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CHRISTIANITY 



AND 



THE CHURCH: 



Rev. CHARLES CONSTANTINE PISE, D. D. 

Author of "Aletheia," "St. Ignatius and his First Companions," " Zenosius," "Father 
Rowland," etc. etc. 



"Cedat CCRIOSITAS FIDEI." 

Tertull. de Prescript. 

Let curiosity yield to faith. 



BALTIMO RE: 
o 
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY JOHN MURPHY & CO. 

No. 178 Market Street. 

PITTSBURG: GEORGE QUIGLEY. 

Sold by the principal Catholic Booksellers throughout Ihe United States. 

1850. 






\2>\ 






Entered, according to the act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred 
and fifty, by John Murphy & Co., in the Clerk's office of the Dis- 
trict Court of Maryland. 



MEMORY OF ARCHBISHOP MARECHAL. 



My venerable Friend ! whom, while on earth, 

In my life's morn, I loved, as loved, of yore, 
Augustine Ambrose, — if this tome have worth. 

To thy blest memory I inscribe it; for, 
Thou wast my early Patron ; thou didst pour 

The sacred unction on my youthful head, 

Upon my brows thy hallowed hands did spread, 
And mark the eternal character thereon 

Of sacred ordination : thou didst smile, 
Like a dear Father on me — as a Son — 

And thy most gentle care embraced me, while 
Heaven lent thee to the Church : thou, now, art gone 

To join the Carrolls in the realms above ; 
But in my heart abides the memory of thy love. 



PREFACE 



I have now concluded a work, of which, for a 
long time, the idea, scheme, and plan, occupied 
my mind ; but from which, hitherto, I necessarily 
shrank, not having, within my reach, the materials 
requisite for its execution. At length, however, 
the elegant and elaborate volume of Louis Lahure* 
fell into my hands, which, without farther labor or 
delay, I could turn to profit, and which enabled me 
to spread before the American reader, in our own 
tongue, the copious and well-chosen excerpts from 
the most famous philosophers and writers, in vindi- 
cation of Christianity, and the dogmas and morality 
of the Catholic Church. 

The investigation to which this volume invites 
the reader, is not a matter of indifference, espe- 
cially in the present age. This truth has been ad- 
mitted by the deepest thinkers. The once great 
De Lamennais has treated it in an " Essay M which 
ranks as a chef d' ceuvre in Catholic literature, and 
places its author at the head of a Christian school, 
from which went forth a Lacordaire, a Gerbet, a 

* Le Chr-isiianisme et lea Philosophes. 



Vlll PREFACE. 

Montalambert, and others, who, while they derive 
from its founder all the splendor of their fame, and 
the grandeur of their success, are doomed, mean- 
while, to deplore his precipitate fall, like that of a 
modern Tertullian. But the arguments, principles, 
truth, and wisdom of that Essay still remain to 
achieve, despite the subsequent inconsistencies of 
its author, the triumphs of the heavenly cause *it 
vindicates, and adorns. 

Voltaire, when his mind reflected on the im- 
portance of religion (which he so fatally derided, 
in his moods of levity or chagrin) declared, that the 
representations and works of the stage were mere 
amusements: the principal study of man is that 
which occupies us least. Very few persons take 
the trouble to examine whence they come, where 
they are, why they are, and what is to become of 
them. Most of those who pass as men of common 
sense are not above children: and when they grow 
old, they are abandoned to themselves, and find old 
age imbecile and contemptible. Doubt, fear, weak- 
ness, poison their declining days. # 

Again : " I cannot, at my age, accustom myself 
to the indifference and levity, with which persons 
of wit treat the only thing necessary, — the truth of 
the Christian religion. . . . Say what you may, the 
thing well deserves the trouble of an investigation."! 

* Tome 69, 95. f Edit, de Kehl, Tom. SI, p. 3. 



PREFACE. IX 

In another place, he goes still farther, and affirms, 
11 that every father of a family should rear a posterity 
acquainted with the Gospel, imbued with the great 
truths its teaches. •••";• 

He concludes, that " Religion demands, abso- 
lutely, the attention of every honest man. He who 
passes his time in the midst of vain pleasures is a 
fool, and unworthy to live. How can they treat 
with so much indifference and levity religion, the 
only essential thing ?" t 

In the following pages the reader will find brought 
together, in a brief and miscellaneous manner, a 
number of important topics, worthy his profound 
investigation, and serious study. I have endeavored, 
with the materials in my hands, to make it as com- 
prehensive as it is varied. I take to myself little 
merit in the performance, having only imitated the 
industry of the bee, in passing from flower to flower, 
in the blooming gardens of literature and philoso- 
phy, which the art and genius of a hundred pol- 
ished minds had laid out and cultivated, years ago. 

* Tom. 34, p. 175. f Tom. 36, p. 296. 




CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER. 
I. 

II. 
III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 
IX. 

X. 

XI. 
XII. 

XIII. 
XIV. 
XV. 
XVI. 
XVII. 

XVIII. 
XIX. 



Page. 

The Existence of God — Atheism— Materialism 

— Deism — Theism 13 

Divine Providence 23 

The Creation 27 

Angels 32 

The Bible 38 

The Pentateuch 49 

The Original Languages of the Scripture, their 

Translation and Canonicity 82 

The Apocrypha 88 

Sentiments of Philosophers and Great Writers 

respecting the Ancient Testament 91 

Sentiments of Philosophers and Great Writers 

respecting the Gospel 99 

Of Man Ill 

Of Woman — the Serpent — the Fall — Original 

Sin— Baptism 122 

Free Will— Endless Punishment 130 

Creation of Brutes 135 

Children of Adam and Eve— the Deluge ...... 141 

Tower of Babel — Idolatry — Origin of Kings. . 145 
Abraham — Sodom — Isaac — Jacob — Joseph — 

Moses 148 

Mount Sina — the Promised Land — Job— Ruth 152 
Solomon — Tobias — Daniel — Esther — Osee — 
Isaiah — Jeremiah — Ezekiel— Joel — Amos — 
Nahum — Habacuc — Zachary — Malachy — 

the Machabees 157 



xu 

CHAPTER. 

XX. 

XXI. 
XXII. 
XXIII. 
XXIV. 
XXV. 
XXVI. 
XXVII. 

XXVIIL 

XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 
XXXIII 
XXXIV 



CONTENTS. 



Paje* 



The Coming of Jesus Christ, and the Estab- 
lishment of His Church 167 

Death and Resurrection of Jesus * 85 

Dogmas and Miracles 190 

Faith 196 

Hope.. 203 

Charity.......... 206 

Interior and Exterior Worship-the Eucharist 213 
Fasting— Abstinence— Veneration of Saints— 

the Sunday 224 

Confession— Prayer— Communion 231 

The Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church. . . 241 

The Catholic Priesthood - 261 

Superstition 273 

277 

Fanaticism *" 

, Christian Morality 288 

. The Fathers of the Church 300 




CHRISTIANITY AND THE CHURCH. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD ATHEISM MATERIAL- 
ISM — DEISM — THEISM. 

The foundation of all Religion is the belief in 
the existence of the Supreme Being ; the incom- 
prehensible One ; the Alpha and Omega ; with- 
out beginning, without end ; the Omnipotent Cre- 
ator, and all- wise Ruler, of the Universe. By 
His word, all things were made : they could not 
have sprung of themselves from nothing into being. 
They must consequently have had an author — an 
Eternal Cause, whose fiat produced them out of 
nothing. That first great cause is God, 

" Dependent creatures from the Eternal spring ; 
Things, that we see, did not themselves create : 
Look round on earth, on air, on sea,— on sky- 
Where, day and night, such glittering lights shine out — 
Observe the order of the seasons, view 
The planets, as they burn, and, then, confess 
The mighty hand by which all these were made." 
2 



14 THE EXISTENCE OF GOD — ATHEISM--' 

We name that Supreme and Almighty Being, 
God : He called himself by the sublime appella- 
tion of: I am who am. Should man push his in- 
quiries farther ? If he presumed to do so, his brarn 
would become confused, his judgment darkened, 
and folly take possession of his intellect. This, 
Rousseau has eloquently acknowledged, in his 
Emile : " The incomprehensible Being who em- 
braces all things, who gives motion to the earth, 
and framed the system of existence, is neither 
visible to our eyes, nor palpable to our touch : He 
defies all our senses. The workmanship is mani- 
fest, but the Maker is concealed. It is, then, no 
trifling matter, to know that He exists. And when 
we have reached this point, and ask ourselves who 
He is, our minds become confounded, they wan- 
der, and we know not what to think. He is as 
mysterious to my understanding as hidden to my 
senses : the more I think of Him, the more be- 
wildered do I grow." 

And yet, do not the Heavens and the Earth 
proclaim the glory of God ? It is true His nature 
is incomprehensible, because a chaos separates 
our intelligence from His immensity. Neverthe- 
less reason can read His being in the works of 
Nature, can see Him represented, faintly, indeed, 
still faithfully, in the wonderful pictures of crea- 



MATERIALISM — DEISM THEISM. 15 

lion that surround us; that sublime creation of 
men, animals, plants, &c. 

The science of mathematics has discovered the 
cause of the motion of the stars, of which it can 
apprehend the direction, and perceive the limits. 
Here ends the power of that science : and here 
admiration begins, enthusiasm is fired ; while we 
acknowledge the infinite wisdom and intelligence 
by which the laws of the Universe are governed. 
We behold those laws, and exclaim with a Poet : 

" Without a law- giver there is no law." 

Physical science analyzes the nature of man, 
and discovers that it is two-fold : when one is 
dissolved, the other is not destroyed. 

" Non oranls moriar, multaque pars mei 
Vitabit Libitinam." (Horace.) 

All of me will not die : my better part 
Will not be stricken by Death's gloomy dart. 

The Atheist denies that a Supreme Being ex- 
ists : but he cannot prove his negation. All he 
can effect is to create doubts and misgivings. 
The Christian is not seduced by such arts : he is 
naturally led to believe in God, and feels that he 
has been made not to understand his Creator, but 
to love him. This belief is innate ; for there is 



16 THE EXISTENCE OF GOD — ATHEISM — 

no rational being, who does not pronounce, in his 
native idiom, the word God. 

Of all the systems, materialism is the most ab- 
surd. Could man create himself? Could the 
floating atoms of chaos constitute the principle of 
creation ? Could creation be the result of chance ? 
Man is an intelligent being, active, free : there- 
fore his intelligence, action, and freedom must 
emanate from One who possesses those attributes 
of Himself, essentially, eternally. 

The theories of modern materialists are derived 
from the ancient : they present nothing novel. 
They have been handed down from Epicurus, 
Pythagoras, Pliny, Petronius, and others. These 
men were the masters of Hobbes, Spinosa, Ma- 
chiavel. Yet, Philosophers of recent date, who 
lead the van of skepticism, do not fail to pro- 
nounce the word God, as frequently, at least, as 
Christian writers : but with this difference, that 
the former yielding, in pronouncing it, to an in- 
nate sentiment, and an onthological certitude, pro- 
nounce it, indeed — but blaspheme it ; while the 
latter, expressing their profound convictions of 
their utter dependency on His power and good- 
ness, bless and adore it. 

Deism is the absence and negation of Religion, 
inasmuch as it cuts off all communication with 



MATERIALISM — DEISM — THEISM. 17 

Heaven, divine revelation, and supernatural light. 
This system reduces man to the level of the brute : 
because it denies the action of Providence, and, 
consequently, future accountability. 

Theism consists in the belief of as much of 
Christianity as is conformable to human reason. 
It is an eclectic system recognizing in God unity 
of nature, but not trinity of persons : in man, an 
immaterial soul, but incapable of enjoying ineffa- 
ble felicity: in nature, a Providence governing 
the Universe and requiring a worship, but a wor- 
ship of any sect; and while He commands virtue 
and forbids vice, will neither reward the one or 
punish the other. How different this erroneous 
idea of Providence from that so admirably sung 
by Racine, in his Jlthalie : 

" That God the master of the Earth and Skies, 
Is not what error figures to our eyes : 
The Eternal is His name, the world's vast plan 
He framed— the sorrows of the humble man 
Whom the earth outrages He marks on high ; 
With equal laws all mortals he will try, 
And from His heavenly throne, with awful power, 
Interrogate the kings of earth ." 

Christianity teaches us, that God has made all 
things for His own glory, which He will not suffer 

to be arrogated by any other. Man is endowed 

2* 



18 THE EXISTENCE OF GOD ATHEISM 

with intelligence to know, admire, adore Him, 
and with a will to love and obey Him. 

To dwell longer on the existence of God would 
be an unnecessary task. " He is a Being," writes 
St. Gregory of Nazianzen,* u above all other 
beings. What tongue may name Him, of whom no 
language can convey an idea?" 

"Do you wish me to prove the existence of 
God by the testimony of the senses ?" asks Ter- 
TULLiAN.f " Well ; though imprisoned in the flesh, 
trammelled by a thousand prejudices, weakened 
by passion and concupiscence, a slave to false di- 
vinities, the soul, when she recovers, as it were, 
from a fit of intoxication, or from some malady, 
and regains her health, proclaims God, and in- 
vokes Him under an appropriate name: Great 
God ! Good God ! These words emanate from 
the mouths of all men. O testimony of the soul 
naturally Christian!"! 

" You will enquire," says St. Chrysostom,§ 
"how, before books were written, God taught 
men to know Him. How ? By the very means 
by which we have led you to a knowledge of that 
Supreme Being. We have walked with you, in 

*Lib. 1. f ,/lpol. cap. xviii. 

% O testimonium animoz naturaliler Christiana ! 
§ Serm. I, in Gen. 



MATERIALISM — DEISM — THEISM. 19 

Spirit, over the entire theatre of the Universe ; 
we have shewn you the heavens, the earth, the 
sea, the fields, the woods, the riches and varieties 
of Nature ; we have gone back to the very ele- 
ments of the different productions, and, at the sight 
of all these wonders, raising our voices together, 
we have cried out in the transports of our admi- 
ration : How great are thy works, O Lord ! how 
unfathomable thy designs" 

" What would be the condition of men!" ex- 
claims Voltaire,* " had they to study astronomy 
and physics in order to arrive at the knowledge of 
God ! He who has created us all should be man- 
ifest to all, and the most common proofs of His 
existence are the best, for the very reason that 
they are common. We want eyes only, and not 
Algebra, to see the day. . . . God has placed 
within our reach all that i% necessary for our 
wants : the certitude of His existence is our great- 
est want. He has given us ample aid to satisfy it. 

" The ancient argument : 1 exist, therefore some 
cause has existed from eternity, is a divine emana- 
tor from reason. . . . Nothing is grander or 
more simple. The same proposition is, also, 
clearly demonstrated by arithmetic and geometry. 
It may, for a moment, astound the inattentive 

* Letter to the King of Prussia, I. 34. • 



20 THE EXISTENCE OF GOD ATHEISM 

mind : but it invariably subdues it, a moment af- 
ter. For, the instant we reflect, we evidently see, 
that if nothing existed from Eternity, every thing 
would have been produced by nothing. Our ex- 
istence would have had no cause: which is an 
absurd contradiction. If a mere house built on 
the earth, or a ship that makes the round of this 
little globe, on the seas, proves clearly the exist- 
ence of a mechanic who constructed them, to 
know that there is a God, I desire one only thing : 
open your eyes, and you will know and adore a 
God. , ;>.-:-;; 

"A beautiful palace proclaims its architect. 
The arrangement of the Universe, the immensity 
of space, in a word, this incomprehensible fabric 
proclaims a sovereign architect, intelligent, al- 
mighty, eternal. # 

" I say with Plato : you believe that I have in- 
telligence, because you perceive order in my ac- 
tions, connexion, and an end. There is a thou- 
sand times more in the arrangement of the world. 
Judge then, whether the world be not regulated 
by a supreme Intelligence. Atheists wield against 
us all the arguments of Strabo and Lucretius. 
We answer in one word : you exist, therefore 
there is a God." 

* Vol. 69, page 463. 



MATERIALISM — DEISM — THEISM. 21 

Epicurus does not hesitate to style " the Divin- 
ity a spiritual Being, all-powerful, Creator and 
Preserver of the Universe and all things, which 
He moves and directs, according to the laws of 
His infinite wisdom." 

" As soon as men become capable of reason- 
ing," writes D'Alembert, " they acknowledge a 
God."* And La Bruyere : " I feel that there is 
a God, and I do not feel that there is none. This 
is sufficient. All the reasoning in the world is 
unnecessary for me. I conclude that God exists ; 
this conclusion is in my nature. I received these 
principles too naturally in my childhood, I have 
preserved them since, too naturally, in a more ad- 
vanced age, to suspect them of fallacy. Yet, there 
are minds who disregard these principles . . . 
these are monsters." f 

" It is certain," says Rousseau,J " that all things 
announce One Intelligence. That Being who 
moves the Universe I call God. To this name I 
join power, will, and goodness. I know, most cer- 
tainly, that He exists of Himself, and that my exist- 
ence is subordinate to His. I perceive God in all 
His works. I feel Him within myself, I see Him 
all around me : but as soon as I attempt to contem- 
plate Him in Himself, He eludes my effort !" 

* Encyclop, Jin. Dieu. \ Caract. Esprits forts. {£m?7e. 



22 THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, &C. 

Again : " Sovereign Power of the Universe ! 
Being of beings, be propitious to me. Cast on 
me an eye of commiseration. . . . Behold my 
heart, ... I place all my confidence in Thy in- 
finite goodness, and it will be my care to occupy 
myself in considering Thy immensity, Thy gran- 
deur, and Thy eternity."* 

" With the conviction of the Divinity " (Ber- 
nardin de S. Pierre) " every thing is grand, 
noble, invincible, in the obscurest life : without it, 
all is weak, displeasing, and bitter, in the bosom 
of grandeur."f 



* Confess. 



\ Etudes de La Nature. 




CHAPTER II. 

DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 

What would God be, if His wisdom did not 
provide for the Creation which His omnipotence 
called forth from nothing ! With regard to ra- 
tional creatures, the views of Providence are, that 
they fulfil their duties towards God, and towards 
their fellow-beings. This is their mission here ; 
this alone will fit them for unspeakable delights, 
hereafter, in Heaven. 

On their hearts has been impressed, by the 
hands of the Creator, a love for the beautiful, re- 
sulting from social harmony, tending to moral 
good — the source of happiness and repose for the 
soul. 

As soon as the existence of God is admitted, 
His Providence must be confessed. All nature 
cries out, that He watches over his works, over 
the birds, that make the groves resonant with their 
sweet lays; over the trees, that are clad with 
leaves, and loaded with fruit; over the fields, 
yellow with the waving harvest ; over the stars 
that glitter in their pristine beauty and order, in 
the firmament, and over the deep that even now 



24 DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 

obeys his mandate, as when its limits were first 
traced out upon its shores. 

The Pagans themselves admitted a Providence. 
For they were convinced that they could not 
make use of their reason, in knowing God, with- 
out, at the same time, acknowledging that He 
watches over the world He has created. In con- 
firmation of this, I might quote Homer, Hesiod, 
Pythagoras, Plato, Virgil, Architas, Demophila, 
the Cumoean Sybil, Livy, &c. &c. 

The Indians, Celts, Egyptians, Ethiopians, 
Chaldeans, and, in general, all nations, have be- 
lieved in this dogma, although some ancient Phi- 
losophers — among others, Democritus, Strabo, 
and Lucian — have turned it into ridicule. 

Modern Philosophers, skeptical as many of 
them are on religious points, agree with the wise 
men of antiquity, in admitting a Providence. 

" It is impossible, 55 says D 5 Alembert, # " — as 
the Pagans as well as Christians have felt — that 
society could exist without the belief in an Invisi- 
ble Power, that governs the affairs of human 
kind. 5 ' 

" The dogma of Providence is so sacred, 55 adds 
Voltaire,! u so necessary to the happiness of 
mankind, that no honest man should doubt of a 
* Encyclop. Atheism. \DicU Philosophy Preface. 



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ANGELS. 



37 



And succor on our race, on wings of lire 
To waft our prayers to heaven — to inspire 
With holy thought our souls — and keep, with care. 
Unceasing watch upon our bodies here. 
Each mortal hath his own : that Angel fair, 
That friend invisible watches round his heart, 
Inspires, and guides it — from it plucks the dart 
Which may transfix it, and relieves its doom — 
He hovers o'er the crib and stands beside the tomb, 
And bearing in his hands the soul set free, 
Presents it, trembling, to the Deity.'* 




CHAPTER V. 

THE BIBLE. 

Adam and Eve, from the period of their crea- 
tion, received from God an innate knowledge of 
the love, gratitude, and adoration due to their 
Maker : and, moreover, all the graces necessary 
to attain the end for which they were brought 
into existence. But, making a bad use of their 
free w T ill, they overturned all the economy of 
God's designs in their regard. 

Men, having rejected the worship of the Su- 
preme Being, fell into idolatry. In order to re- 
medy this evil, God chose a people, to whom, 
after their captivity in Egypt, He gave a written 
law, which subsisted until the coming of Jesus 
Christ, who, in its stead, substituted the Law of 
Grace, which is to. continue to the end of time. 

The salvation of men, from the beginning, was 
the result of their faith in the Messiah who was 
to appear on earth ; and from the epoch of His 
ministry, no one can be saved except by faith in 
Him, and through the efficacy of His name. 

These three propositions being admitted, it is 
not difficult to understand, in a general manner, 



THEBIBLE. 39 

what is meant by Religion, viz: the link which 
binds man to God — the companionship of the 
creature with the Creator. 

That Christianity dates from the birth of the 
world, Si. Augustine testifies : " What we call 
the Christian Religion existed among the An- 
cients, and has never ceased to exist from the 
commencement of the human race to the moment 
when Christ came in the flesh, from whom, reli- 
gion that always existed, assumed the name of 
the Christian Religion." 

Such is the antiquity of our Religion : which, 
far from shrinking from the meridian light, courts 
it, and invites to an investigation of her character, 
nay commands it. If she feels herself outraged 
by the blasphemy of unbelievers, she does not 
consider herself honored by a stupid credulity* 
The disciples of the Gospel are not like the fol- 
lowers of the Koran. Religion is founded on 
truths divinely revealed, of which the Books of 
Moses are the depositories : on miracles wrought 
by the Prophets to prove their heavenly mission : 
on the sublime teachings of the Scripture, so 
holy and perfect that God alone could be their 
author. 

These prophecies have been so faithfully ac- 
complished, that were we not certain of their an- 



40 THE BIBLE. 

tiquity, we would suppose that they were uttered 
after the events they predict. Thus the prophecy 
of Daniel, pronounced five hundred years before 
its accomplishment, could never be satisfactorily 
proved to be false. 

The Christian founds his Faith upon the ad- 
mitted authority of the sacred Scriptures, and 
of the Church, which has, during the space of 
eighteen hundred years, spread throughout the 
world the word of God, and opens her bosom to 
all who seek a refuge in it. 

Religion has always been one and the same : 
she is immutable. There can be but one true 
and divine Religion, because there is but one God. 
Christianity is the development, the perfection, of 
Judaism. The ancient Law was but a prepara- 
tion for the new. It is necessary to unite the two 
alliances in one and the same idea, to comprehend 
anything of the perfection, the riches, and divine 
plan, relative to the salvation of the human race. 
In fine, Christianity is a magnificent chain of 
which the last link is in our hands, and the first 
attached to the throne of the Eternal. 

Although times have changed; and the mys- 
tery of redemption once announced as to be, is 
now accomplished, Faith has not, therefore, 
changed. Before the coming of Christ, true reli- 



THE BIB LE . 41 

gion was practised under other names, and sym- 
bols, than at present : in a manner more veiled 
and obscure, than under the full light of the Sun 
that hath arisen from on high ; nevertheless, there 
has been but one only Religion. 

The promise made by God, in the origin of the 
world, immediately after man's fall in Paradise, 
that of the woman should be born a son who 
should crush the serpent's head, was perpetuated 
during the forty ages that elapsed between that 
event and the birth of the Messiah. In this the 
only hope of mankind was fixed. That Son, 
Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, was signal- 
ized by characteristics which could not be mista- 
ken, designated in the Bible, and pointed out by 
the Prophets. The ancient Testament was the 
figure of Christ and the Church, as we are told 
by St. Paul. 

The authenticity of the prophecies is so clear, 
that the most ardent enemies of Religion have 
been compelled to avow that they are striking, 
and extraordinary. In effect, from the beginning 
of the world, God announced, as we have seen, 
the Messiah. He promised Him to Abraham, 
and the Prophets traced the faithful picture of his 
life. They mention His eternal generation, pro- 
claimed Him a man- God, designated the place of 
4* 



42 THE BIBLE, 

his birth, foretold the adoration of the Magi, His 
flight into Egypt, and his return to Nazareth. 
They depicted his virtues, spoke, with enthusi- 
asm, of his miracles, and did not fear to tell of his 
suffering and death. They sang of His resurrec- 
tion and ascension : the rejection of the Jews, the 
vocation of the Gentiles, the establishment of the 
Church on the ruins of the Synagogue. In vain 
have the Jews attempted to re-organize their na- 
tion. In vain did Julian, the Apostate, essay to 
falsify the declaration of the Holy Scriptures, to 
rebuild the Temple, and immolate new r victims. 
All was useless. Nature itself seemed armed 
against that enterprise, overturned his project; 
and the Jews were left in the condition in which 
he found them. 

It is, then, clearly demonstrated, that all the 
Scriptures and prophecies, all the revolutions of 
the political world, all the laws and ceremonies 
of the first alliance, announced and prefigured 
Jesus Christ. In Adam, He was the father of a 
holy posterity; in Abel, the Innocent One, the 
Martyr ; in Noah, the Repairer of the human race ; 
in Abraham, the Blessed ; in Melchisedeck, the 
Sovereign Priest ; in Isaac, the voluntary Victim ; 
in Jacob, the Chief of the elect; in Joseph, the 
Meek One, sold by his brethren ; in Moses, the 



THE BIBLE. 43 

Pilgrim, and Fugitive, the Powerful in works, the 
Legislator. In Job, the Sufferer, the Abandoned ; 
in David, the Conqueror and King of nations ; in 
Solomon, the Builder of the new temple ; in Jonas, 
the Entombed and the Risen. The tables of the 
law, the manna of the desert, the fiery pillar, the 
brazen serpent, were all symbols of his preroga- 
tives and glory. 

Does not the analogy that exists between the 
Old Testament and the New prove, even miracu- 
lously, the pre-existence of Catholicity ? # " All 
knowledge of Religion," remarks St. Augustine, 
" consists properly in the knowledge of the two 
Adams: what we have inherited from the first, 
and received from the other. Nature fallen in 
Adam, Nature repaired in Jesus Christ ; this is 
the sum of Religion. All the economy of the 
visible or invisible world, whether anterior of 
subsequent to the creation, refers to the advent of 
Christ upon earth. The cross of Jesus : behold 
the centre around which all revolves, the compend 
of the history of the world." 

All God's designs, conduct, counsels, all His 
promises and menaces, His laws and ceremonies, 
all the figures, prophecies, symbols of past times, 
as well as the foundation and destruction of Em- 

* See Becanus' Analog. 



44 THE BIBLE, 

pires, all centred in Jesus Christ, as their termi- 
nus and object. His religion descended from 
Heaven as soon as man began to breathe in Eden, 
and after the lapse of so many centuries, She is 
yet with the human race, teaching God's will and 
shedding blessings upon the world : influencing 
the happiness of man, not in a vague and unde- 
fined manner, but by penetrating the heart, and 
filling it with consolation and hope. She ele- 
vates sentiment, supports courage, inspires resig- 
nation amidst the adversities of life, fosters the 
presence of Him who scrutinizes the human con- 
science, and encourages and intimidates, by im- 
parting spiritual joy, or awakening remorse. 

True religion is the parent of pure morality, 
of justice, of order: and the enemy of despotism, 
fanaticism, and superstition. 

In order to arrive at a more complete know- 
ledge of Christianity, it will be necessary to con- 
sider the condition of the Jews, since its estab- 
lishment. 

Christ announced the ruin of Jerusalem in these 
words: u A stone shall not be left upon a stone."* 
And in another place : " For many will come in 
my name, saying: I am the Christ, and they will 
seduce many. . . . When therefore you shall see 
* Matth. xiv. 



THEBIBLE. 45 

the abomination of desolation standing in the 
Holy place, he that readeth let him understand. 
Then they that are in Judea let them flee to the 
mountains. . . . For there shall be great tribu- 
lation," &c.* 

The incredulous Jews who remained in the 
city were massacred: those only who believed 
in Christ as the Messiah, returned to the town 
of Pella, and escaped the general calamity. 
" Christ," writes St. Chrysostom, " has built his 
Church on a rock ; nothing can overturn it. He 
has destroyed the Temple ; nothing can rebuild 
it. Nothing can throw down what God has 
erected: nothing can raise up what God has 
hurled down."f 

The prophecies of Jacob, of Daniel, of Isaiah, 
of Aggaeus and Micheas, have been accomplished. 
Jerusalem was destroyed, in the year 70, on 
the 8th of September, under Titus, the son of 
Vespasian. The sacrifices were abolished, the 
Temple entirely ruined, and the Jews dispersed 
without the hope of being restored to their na- 
tive land. 

With regard to DaniePs prophecy touching 
the Messiah, many objections have been urged 
as to the time when it should begin and end. 

* Matth. xxiv. f Oral. 3. 



46 THE BIBLE. 

Some compute the weeks from the first year of 
the reign of Cyrus, King of Persia : others from 
the twentieth, or from the seventh of that of Ar- 
taxerxes. But whatever may be the beginning or 
termination of those weeks of years, and not of 
days (each week contains seven years) the truth 
of the prophecy will be ever apparent; for, from 
the order given by Artaxerxes, in the twentieth 
year of his reign, A. M. 3551, to the epoch when 
Christ, began his preaching, in 4034, four hun- 
dred and eighty-three years had elapsed. 

Josephus, an eye-witness, relates, in faithful and 
terrific terms, the History of the woes, famine, 
and final destruction of Jerusalem. St. Jerome, 
dwelling on this subject, thus apostrophises the 
unfortunate Jews : " What are you expecting, 
incredulous nation ? Under the Judges, you com- 
mitted many crimes : your idolatry made you the 
slave of the neighboring people : but God had 
pity on you and sent you Saviours. You multi- 
plied your idolatries under the Kings; but the 
abominations into which you fell under Achaz and 
Manasses were punished only by seventy years 
of captivity. Cyrus came, and restored to you 
your country, your temple, and your sacrifices. 
At last you were trodden down by Vespasian 
and Titus. Fifty years after, Adrian completed 



THE BIBLE. 47 

your extermination, and for four hundred years 
have you continued in oppression."* 

The Sacred Books are those that have been 
written under Divine Inspiration, have defied the 
injuries of time, been handed down to our age, 
and comprise the Old and New Testaments. 

By Testament is understood attestation; from 
the Latin word testari. The ancient contains all 
the works written before the birth of Christ, viz : 
the five books of Moses ; Joshua; Judges; Ruth; 
four books of Kings ; two of Paralipomenon, the 
first by Esdras, the second by Nehemiah ; Tobias, 
Judith ; Esther ; Job ; a hundred and fifty Psalms 
by David; Parables; Ecclesiastes ; Canticle of 
Canticles ; Ecclesiasticus ; Jeremiah and Baruch ; 
Ezekiel, Daniel ; the ten minor Prophets: Osee, 
Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas, Nahum, 
Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zachariah, Mala- 
chi ; and the first and second books of Mac- 
habees. 

These books are recognized as sacred: they 
form the Canon approved by the Church, in the 
Council of Trent, and conformably to the teach- 
ing of the greater part of the Holy Fathers of the 
five first centuries. This Canon was, likewise, 
approved by the Councils of Hippo and Car- 

* Ep. ad Dardan. 



48 THE BIBLE. 

thage, held in the years 397 and 419: declaring 
that " it had been received from their Fathers." 
The Pentateuch — with the exception of the 
last chapter of Deuteronomy — was written by 
Moses. That chapter is attributed to Joshua. 
In attempting to sap their authenticity, Voltaire 
denies the existence of Moses, and founds his ne- 
gation upon this reasoning : " The History of the 
Jews is the foundation of Pagan mythology ; now, 
that mythology is false ; therefore, the History of 
the Jews is false also. 55 * Captious sophistry! 
as though it followed because fable is constructed 
out of facts, that the facts themselves are false ! 
That Moses lived is attested by his writings, by 
the tradition and testimony of an entire and nu- 
merous people — the Jewish, as well as Pagan 
nations, the enemies of the Hebrews. Assyrians, 
Egyptians, Phenicians, Greeks and Romans unite 
in the admission of that fact.f The readers of 
Juvenal cannot but have noticed these lines : 

Judaicum addiscunt et servant, et metuunt jus, 
Tradidit arcano quodcunque volumine Moses. { 

They learn, and keep, and fear the Jewish code 
Left them, by Moses, in his hidden tome. 

* Philosoph. de Vhist. 

t Josephus cow/r. Appion. Origen Ap< contr. Cels. Tacitus 
Jpp. i. v. Dion Cassius, Pliny, &c. J Sat. xiv. 



CHAPTER VI, 

THE PENTATEUCH. 

We delight in refreshing our minds in the limpid 
fountains of evidence which never cease to flow 
from heavenly sources. Bathing in them, our souls 
come forth, not only filled with delightful and 
salutary influences, but likewise unsullied by any 
mental defilement, if, peradventure, in the midst 
of our contact with the skeptic and doubting 
world, any such should ever involuntarily have 
attached to them. With this view, I have pro- 
posed to throw together, in this chapter, some 
ideas on the "Law of the Law," the title given 
by the Jews to the books of Moses, or the Pen- 
tateuch. The subject naturally divides itself 
into two parts; first, the contents of the book, and, 
second, their Divine inspiration. 

The name Pentateuch is derived from the 
heads or books into which the subject-matter has 
been divided, these being Jive in number. And 
every tyro in the Greek language has learned its 
derivation. On opening the sacred volume, we 
will at once perceive the titles and mark the col- 
location of these five books; namely, Genesis, 
5 



50 THE PENTATEUCH. 

Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. 
The ordinary reader of the Bible, in casting his 
eyes upon the fivefold division, would naturally 
be led to suppose that this division was made by 
the author himself in the original manuscripts. 
But such is not the case ; the ancient Hebrews 
knew no such division, — which is mentioned, for 
the first time, by Josephus, in his famous "An- 
tiquities." They designated the Pentateuch, as I 
observed just now, the " Law of the Law," or 
the " Book of the Law." 

The Pentateuch is an authentic and inspired 
narrative of events connected with the establish- 
ment of religion, as they occurred from the era 
of the creation down to the death of the author, 
an unbroken and magnificent chain, of which the 
links are important and remarkable facts, through 
which the Providence of God can be visibly 
traced, and in all of which the finger of Jehovah 
is manifestly discerned. 

The most important portion of the Pentateuch 
is the history of the Mosaic legislation. What 
precedes this may be regarded as a mere intro- 
duction or exordium; so intimately connected with 
it, however, that it is necessary to the whole, and 
therefore cannot be separated from it. Through 
it we are led, step by step, to the mighty drama 



THE PENTATEUCH. 51 

to which it is meant to conduct us ; as through an 
introduction to some magnificent poem, or through 
the exordium to some sublime oration. We fol- 
low the graphic and inspired author from one 
scene to another, through varied fields and lonely 
solitudes, until at length, ere we are aware of the 
majesty that is to burst upon our vision, we find 
ourselves' at the foot of the mountain clad with the 
awful glories of the Most High, quaking under 
his terrific thunder, and gleaming with the fearful 
flashes of his lightning, from the midst of which 
supernatural coruscations and uproar, the Deca- 
logue is published to the people shuddering with 
awe in the valley below. 

The Pentateuch may very naturally be divided 
into three parts. The first comprises the history 
of what occurred in the world from the period of 
its creation down to the death of the patriarch 
Joseph. And this part forms what is entitled 
Genesis, from the circumstance of its treating of 
the birth of things. The Hebrews call it Beresith, 
from the word with which it opens. It compre- 
hends the space of two thousand three hundred 
and sixty-nine years. The second part contains 
the Mosaic legislation, which runs through Exo- 
dus, Leviticus, and Numbers. Exodus is so 
styled from the going out of the people of Israel 



52 THE PENTATEUCH. 

from the land of Egypt; it is denominated by the 
Hebrews Veelle Semoth, and occupies a term of 
one hundred and forty-five years. Leviticus de- 
rives its name from the Levites, because it treats 
of the offices and functions, rites and ceremonies, 
of the priests and Levites, and is called by the 
Hebrews, from the first word with which it 
begins, Vaicra. The name Numbers is derived 
from the contents of the book, namely, the num- 
bering of the people; it is denominated by the 
Hebrews Vaiedabber, and extends through a cycle 
of about thirty-nine years. The third part is but 
the repetition of certain laws already given, and 
the addition of some new precepts, exhortations, 
and motives for the observance of the law already 
promulgated ; hence its appellation,— Deuterono- 
my, and in Hebrew, Elle Haddebarim. 

In the Pentateuch, there are four distinctive 
divisions of character, namely, history, religion, 
legislation, and poesy : history the most accurate 
and simply narrated; religion which reveals to 
the favored race of Israel a system Divine and 
authentic, raising them far above the position of 
the nations by whom they were surrounded, and 
marking them and their posterity as the true 
adorers of the only living God ; legislation breath- 
ing a wisdom and adaptation to the peculiar cir- 



THE PENTATEUCH. 53 

cumstances of the people which proved the 
heavenly source from which it emanated, and the 
temporal blessings which it was intended to con- 
vey ; and a poesy as far superior in beauty and 
sublimity to the most admired strain of the pagan 
muse as the spirit of prophecy is above the genius 
of human thought, or the fountains of inspiration 
are more grand, more deep, more bright, than the 
springs of human imagination. 

Its history is the most ancient, certain, and in- 
teresting to mankind. It is the production of the 
proto-author, and therefore stands alone in the 
midst of the early years, telling of events and 
men and scenes which, had it not been for his 
hallowed style, must have been lost and buried 
and forgotten. No author whom he might cite 
preceded his era ; on the contrary, during a long 
series of years, his was the only record, and a 
record which begins its date with the birth of 
creation, relates how man, the great parent of the 
human race, was formed, and in what manner the 
earth was peopled. Under the divine description 
of Moses, every thing speaks with a thrilling and 
marvellous interest, every thing bursts upon the 
reader with a fresh and glowing beauty and sub- 
limity. Chaos seems in labor, the elements of 
matter coalesce, as it were, and assume a consis- 
5* 



54 THE PENTATEUCH. 

tency, which, by the omnipotence that brought 
them out of nothing, grows into form and sym- 
metry, and palpitates with existence. The waters 
are separated from the dry land ; the firmament 
is thrown like a pavilion over the earth; light 
flashes from the womb of darkness ; the sun as- 
cends his flaming throne, from which, as from an 
everlasting watch-tower in the heavens, he is 
destined to regulate the days, the hours, the years, 
as long as time shall endure. The deep is rolled 
into its vast and fathomless abysses, and its bil- 
lows are chained within their prescribed bound- 
aries, traced by the Eternal finger on the sands ; 
the waters are alive with fishes ; the fields and 
groves swarm with beasts and reptiles, and are 
resonant with the incessant songs of joyous birds. 
Eden is prepared, with its sweet and beautiful 
gardens, its limpid rivers and ever-blooming 
bowers, for the reception of the lord of the earth ; 
and man, made after God's own image, standing 
erect, looking to the heavens of which he is 
destined to become an inhabitant, walks in ma- 
jesty and dominion among the inferior animals. 
This is the character of the historic record of the 
Pentateuch. 

Nor does the smallest shadow of uncertainty 
rest upon its accuracy or veracity. Both are 



THE PENTATEUCH. 55 

placed beyond the influence of doubt ; both stand 
upon the authority of unquestionable truth. For, 
independently of the inspiration of its author, on 
every detail the characters of exact authenticity 
are visibly impressed. All the personages intro- 
duced upon the scene are mentioned by name ; all 
the epochs are distinctly marked ; all the events 
are intimately woven together, — like a chain, of 
which one link cannot be removed without caus- 
ing the whole to break and fall to pieces. From 
Adam down to Noah, there is no interruption; 
both eras are inseparably united together by a 
tissue of epochs and characters and events. The 
first man whose raptured eye beheld the wonders 
of the new-formed universe, and the family which, 
after witnessing the bursting of the cataracts of 
heaven, was preserved to re-people the regene- 
rated earth, seem to join hands, through an inter- 
val of two thousand years, — such is the unity of 
this record. Then, again, commences another 
concatenation, not less closely linked nor less 
uninterrupted, stretching down to, the epoch of 
Moses, the legislator of the Jewish people, and 
the formation of the twelve tribes, the origin of 
the Mosaic legislation, and the entrance of the 
people of God into the land of Canaan ; all which 
facts are incontestably authentic. 



SQ THE PENTATEUCH. 

Nor can it be denied that these facts are, 
moreover, the most interesting to the human race. 
They teach us our own history, which, otherwise, 
would have been but a vague, and perhaps my- 
thological, tradition, like that of the posterity of 
Confucius, or of the other pagan nations. We 
are made acquainted, with perfect accuracy and 
beyond all misgiving, with our wondrous origin, 
w T ith the formation of the universe in which we 
are placed, w r ith the common parent of our race, 
with the great catastrophe which overwhelmed 
in destruction nearly the whole of the human 
family, — a catastrophe to w T hich the common 
tradition of all nations, the fictions of mythology, 
and the condition of the globe, — cut up into con- 
tinent and island, vale and mountain, in all of 
which are discovered fossil and animal remains, 
which by no other theory could be accounted 
for, — render a striking and universal testimony. 
Compare the mythology of Deucalion with the 
history of Moses, and it will be evident that the 
former traction is founded substantially upon the 
latter. The u Deucalion unde homines nati, du- 
rum genus" of Ovid, whence derived except 
from the event of the deluge as narrated by the 
inspired historian ? from whose pen we also learn 
the manner in which the shattered earth was re- 



THE PENTATEUCH. 57 

paired, the heads and founders of the nations 
that afterwards spread anew over the face of the 
world, the account of the patriarch of the He- 
brew people, their journeys in the desert, their 
legislation, and the prodigies and miracles which 
attested and confirmed the Divinity of the whole. 
Such is the nature of the historic part of the 
Pentateuch ; — and could any thing be more inter- 
esting or more important to the human family? 

The religious division of the Pentateuch dis- 
plays to the mind a character manifestly divine, 
whether in regard to dogma or to morals ; and of 
these two constituents all true religion, it will be 
confessed, is composed. These make known 
what man must believe in his relation to God, and 
how he must comport himself towards his fellow- 
beings. They consequently afford a double po- 
sition, on which, as a believing people, we are to 
stand, — one eternal, the other temporal ; one, like 
Jacob's ladder, reaching to heaven, — the other, 
like Israel's tents, spread on earth, and covering 
under their magnificent and beautiful expansion 
all the charities which should bind brethren to- 
gether. In effect, what sublime ideas of the 
Divinity are not conveyed by the author of the 
Pentateuch, — ideas worthy the majesty of the 
Supreme Creator, and which, by their light and 



•*>8 THE PENTATEUCH. 

glory, cast into impenetrable shade the most 
gorgeous conceits and fanciful apotheoses of the 
wisest and politest pagan theogonists? Only 
compare them, as they are left on record, whether 
in the loftiest strains of epos or ode, or in the 
elegant description of history, or in the romantic 
feats and triumphs of mythology. What are the 
"cloud-compelling" Zeus of the Greeks, or the 
demigods and penates of the Romans, when 
contrasted with the God of Moses, — one, omni- 
potent, eternal, whose fiat struck out matter from 
nothing, — who spoke and all things were made, — 
whose providence governs all the events of hu- 
man life, whose infinite wisdom sounds the depths 
of the heart, unfathomable by any other power, 
who, in a word, by excellence, and by nature, 
is? Nowhere, except in the Pentateuch, has any 
appellation been given to the Creator that con- 
veys the smallest idea of grandeur and self-ex- 
istence, when placed by the side of the name by 
which he characterizes himself, — I am who am, 
Ego sum qui sum; a name which reveals the 
nature of the Divinity as clearly as it is possible to 
descry it amid the deep shades of this sublunary 
world. 

The God of Moses is not, like the imaginary 
deities of his contemporary philosophers, indif- 



THE PENTATEUCH. 59 

ferent to the fate, present or future, of human 
kind, consigning over to the caprice of fortune 
or the fatality of destiny beings endowed with 
intellect and immortality. He is the Father and 
the Friend of his people, walks in invisible, but 
yet sensible, majesty, amongst them ; dwells in 
their tents, selects and treats them as his own 
precious inheritance ; adopts them as his children, 
and, as the eagle with outstretched wings covers 
and protects her tender brood, he fosters them 
under the shadow of his presence and providence, 
nourishes them with manna prepared for their 
use in the clouds of heaven, and refreshes them, 
in the midst of arid and weary solitudes, with 
streams of pellucid water, leaping, at the stroke 
of his prophet's wand, from the barren and deso- 
late rock. That God, who walked and conversed 
with Adam among the virginal bowers of Eden, 
continued with his posterity, although tainted by 
the original iniquity of their progenitor, and in 
process of time, the more admirably to prove his 
love for mankind, embodied in the person of his 
Eternal Son the Divinity and humanity, and gave 
evidence to heaven and earth that it was his 
" delight to be with the children of men." 

It is true that the author of the Pentateuch, 
having to address his language and adapt his 



60 THE PENTATEUCH. 

ideas to mortal men, is compelled to speak of 
God after a human manner,— to attribute to the 
Eternal affections and faculties which, rigorously 
speaking, cannot be applied to him ; yet this is 
counteracted by the exact and spiritual notions 
which he, at due times, conveys of the Divinity, 
and thus admonishes us of the true signification 
which ' should be given to his metaphorical 
expressions. 

From the teachings of pagan philosophy no 
information could be derived respecting the origin 
of the w r orld or the creation of man. Over 
these and similar momentous facts, a gloomy, 
an impenetrable veil of ignorance was thrown, 
which no hand, save one directed and empowered 
from above, could draw from the scene. Poetry, 
imagination, superstition, had in vain attempted 
to display to the bewildered reason of man the 
source and power to which all things — and him- 
self especially — should be traced back. The 
Pentateuch removes every vestige of uncertainty, 
and discloses, in plain but splendid verity, the 
history of the formation of man's being; and 
while it exhibits the mortal part moulded, by a 
a plastic energy, out of the slime of the earth, 
it tells, in like manner, of the soul, — the breath 
of the Eternal Spirit, who breathed into the 



THE PENTATEUCH. 61 

comely, but originally cold and lifeless body, and 
infused into its nostrils warmth and immortality. 
It convinces the reader of the exalted and heaven- 
born character of man, the master-piece of In- 
finite Wisdom, who, ere the perfect work was 
undertaken, seemed to deliberate w 7 ith himself 
how to impress upon it the image of his own 
Divinity. One only word was all that was re- 
quired to produce the heavens and earth, with 
their ornaments and irrational inhabitants ; but the 
production of the intellectual and godlike master 
of creation is represented, in these pages, as the 
premeditated effect of the omnipotence and wis- 
dom of the Trinity, — " Faciamus hominem. Let 
us make man." 

Not satisfied with acquainting man with his Cre- 
ator, and with imparting to him the most accurate 
ideas of the Divinity, the author of the Penta- 
teuch teaches, also, the duties which man is 
bound to pay Him. Essential duties, founded 
upon the natural relation existing between the 
creature and the Creator, upon the absolute de- 
pendency of the former on the infinite majesty 
of the latter, and upon the necessity of express- 
ing and testifying, by homage, and sacrifice, and 
prayer, a profound sense of gratitude for the 
favors bestowed on the human race. Those 
6 



62 THE PENTATEUCH. 

duties are contained in the Decalogue, and may 
be comprised in that one great commandment, 
placed by Moses at the head of all the others: — 
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole 
heart, with thy whole soul, and with all thy mind : 
a golden precept, which, including the love of 
one's neighbor as one's self, was promulgated 
afterwards by Christ the Messiah, as the compend 
of the New Law, as well as the cardinal maxim 
of the Old, on which the Law depended and the 
Prophets. Of this sublime nature is the religion 
prescribed by the author of the Pentateuch, — 
so pure, so enlightened, and so perfect, that of 
it mere human philosophy never could have 
conceived the faintest notion. 

The legislative character of the Pentateuch 
is not less admirable, in its theory and adaptation, 
than the one of which I have just treated. 

In promulgating his code, every legislator has 
some particular end in view ; and to this all his 
legislation is meant to be directed. Among va- 
rious people, various objects were proposed to 
be attained ; that of the Spartans, for instance, 
differed from that of the Athenians ; and hence, 
while Lycurgus gave laws for the purpose of 
forming robust and vigorous men, Solon's legis- 
lation had in view the refinement of the mind 



THE PENTATEUCH. 63 

and the polish of life, by encouraging the arts 
and sciences. Both succeeded in their different 
objects. The Spartan was famed for his bodily 
strength and activity, the Athenian for his mental 
elegance and intellectual accomplishments. A 
Latin poet, Propertius, has sung of the former ; — 

M Multa tuae, Sparte, miramur jura palaestrae :" 
We admire thee, Spartan, in thy manly games ; 

while Horace has not forgotten to transmit to 
posterity this eulogy of the latter : — 

" Adjecere bonae paulo plus artis Athenae." 
Athens hath added to the fine arts more. 

An infinitely more vital and lofty motive than 
either of the former inspired the legislation of 
Moses ; it was the the preservation of the He- 
brew people from idolatry, the conservation 
among them of the knowledge of the Most High, 
and the preparation, at a long distance of time, 
for the coming of the Messiah. On these as its 
essential foundation is based the whole of the 
Mosaic code, and all the circumstantial enact- 
ments that grew out of that original code must 
be regarded and understood in reference to that 
threefold object which its author had in view. 
To examine them all in detail would require 



64 THE PENTATEUCH. 

volumes. Volumes, indeed, there are, within the 
reach of every individual desirous of entering 
more thoroughly into the study of this question, 
in whose elaborate and erudite pages nothing is 
left untouched that might demonstrate the su- 
preme wisdom of the minutest points of the 
Mosaic laws. Suffice it, on this occasion, to 
appeal to experience as a witness. The clearest 
proof of the wisdom of a legislator is the fact 
of his having fully and effectually attained the 
end which he proposed by the promulgation of 
his laws. That Moses has accomplished this, 
the history of the past and the experience of the 
present render evident to the mind of the in- 
genuous and reflecting inquirer. If we go back 
into the past, we then find, in the midst of the 
dismal darkness and lamentable superstitions that 
enveloped and debased the surrounding nations 
of the earth, the Jewish people enlightened by 
the knowledge, and elevated by the worship, of 
the true and only God. If we cast our eyes 
upon the present, do we not behold the same 
people, despite of all their vicissitudes and their 
calamities, adhering with unprecedented fidelity 
— though, unfortunately, laboring under a sad 
hallucination — to the worship of the God of their 
fathers? Nothing can alienate them from Him 



THE PENTATEUCH. 65 

who brought them out of the land of Egypt and 
out of the house of bondage. Their fidelity to 
the Law is, indeed, a marvel, and there is no 
means of accounting for it, except the profound 
and enduring conviction of its divinity, which 
neither dispersion throughont the universe, nor 
despondency at their long and fruitless expecta- 
tion of the Messiah, can eradicate from their 
hearts. This being the end of the Mosaic 
legislation, its wisdom, consequently, cannot be 
disputed. 

The laws of the Pentateuch are moral, civil, 
and ceremonial. The first — for example, the 
Decalogue, and the other precepts depending on 
it — are founded on the law of nature ; they may 
be said to be a ratification, in more distinct char- 
acters, of that law which, having, in the begin- 
ing, been written by the Creator on the human 
heart, was afterwards inscribed by the same 
Eternal Legislator on tablets of stone. Hence it 
is manifest that this part of the Pentateuch could 
never be abrogated, but was, on the contrary, 
emphatically enforced, by the Divine Legislator 
of the Christian world. The second — the civil 
— were those issued by God's own will, and re- 
gard either the administration of the government, 

or the duties of individual citizens. The third 
6 * 



66 THE PENTATEUCH. 

— ceremonial— emanated, in like manner, from 
God's good pleasure, and refer to the regulation, 
practice, and external rites of Divine worship. 
What an immense field for commentary here 
expands before the mind! But its magnitude 
forbids me from even entering upon it, and I, 
therefore, hasten to the consideration of the poetic 
division of the Pentateuch. 

In approaching this topic of my remarks, I 
only regret that I am not possessed of at least a 
portion of the eloquence of a Rollin, a La Harpe, 
or a Chateaubriand, to do some justice to its 
exalted merits. The beauty and sublimity of the 
poetry of Moses immeasurably surpass the most 
admired strains of Homer; and eminently entitle 
him to the honor of being the first of poets, as 
we have proved him to be the greatest of histo- 
rians, legislators, and theologians. Innumerable 
passages might be culled from the pages of the 
Pentateuch in exemplification and proof of this 
assertion; I will, however, direct the reader's 
attention to a few. For instance, the blessing 
of Jacob, in Genesis, chapter xxvii; the pro- 
phecy of Balaam, in Numbers, chapter xxiv; 
and the blessing of Moses, before his death, upon 
the tribes of Israel, in the thirty-third chapter of 
Deuteronomy. I point especially to these three 



THE PENTATEUCH. 67 

passages, (numberless others, and particularly 
the canticle after the crossing of the Red Sea, 
might also be quoted,) as, in my earlier years, I 
attempted to render them, as literally as possible, 
into verse : — 

JACOB'S BLESSING. 

The dew of heaven may God bestow, 

The fatness of the earth be thine ; 
For thee may corn abundant grow, 

And ever fruitful be the purple vine. 

Thee let the people always serve, 

And the tribes worship as their lord ; 
Thy brethren ne'er from thee shall swerve, 

Thy mother's children shall obey thy word. 

Cursed the man who curseth thee : 

Let him who blesseth filled with blessings be. 

BALAAM'S PROPHECY. 

How beautiful, O Jacob, are 

Thy tabernacles bright ! 
Thy tents, O Israel, how fair 

And lovely to the sight ! 

As gentle valleys, crowned with wood, 

As gardens near the river's tide, 
As tabernacles pitched of God, 

As cedars by the water's side. 



68 THE PENTATEUCH. 

Out of his bucket streams shall flow, 
His seed in waters deep be proved, 

Agag, his king, shall be laid low, 
And his proud kingdom be removed. 

From Egypt God hath brought him out, 
Whose strength is like unto the power 

Of the rhinoceros ; — they shall rout 
The hostile nations, and devour; 

And break their bones, and pierce them through 
With arrows sharp and merciless : 

He, lying down, hath slept, as though 
A lion or a lioness, 

Whom to arouse from sleep none durst : 
Who blesseth thee shall blessed be ; 

But reckoned, too, among the accursed 
Shall stand that man who curseth thee. 



THE BLESSING OF MOSES ON THE TRIBES OF 
ISRAEL. 

" Let Reuben live, nor let him die, for he 
In number small and limited shall be." 

And this is Juda's blessing : — " Lord, give ear 
To Juda's voice, and hearken to his prayer : 
Conduct him in unto his people. And 
He shall fight for him, and no foe shall stand 
Against His helping and resistless hand." 

He said to Levi,-—" To that man of heaven 
Be thy perfection and thy doctrine given, 



THE PENTATEUCH. 69 

Who hath temptation's strongest power defied, 
And been at contradiction's waters tried ; 
Who to his father, mother, brethren, spake, — 
1 1 do not know you ;' and could dare forsake 
Their children ; these thy covenant have observed, 
And from thy holy word have never swerved, 
Thy judgment, Jacob ; thy law, Israel ; — these 
With burning incense shall thy wrath appease, 
And on thine altars holocausts shall place. 
Lord, bless his strength, nor from him turn thy face ; 
Strike, strike the backs of his fierce enemies, 
And let not them that hate him dare to rise." 

To Benjamin he said, — " In him shall dwell, 
With confidence, the one whom God loves well, 
All day, as in the chamber of a bride, 
And rest between his shoulders shall abide." 

He said to Joseph, too, — " The land be given 

Of the Lord's blessing, of the fruits of heaven, 

And of the dew, and of the sea below 

That lieth, and of all the fruits that grow 

And ripen by the moon, or by the sun, 

Whether the everlasting hills upon, 

Or on the ancient mountain-tops brought forth; 

Be his the fulness and the fruits of earth. 

His blessing, in the bush who burned, come down 

On Joseph's head, and on the Nazarite's crown. 

On him, among his brethren, is conferred 

The beauty of the firstling of the herd : 

His horns like horns of the rhinoceros are, — 

With them shall he the nations push afar 

E'en to the earth's remotest boundaries. 

Manasses' thousands, Ephraim's hosts, are these," 



70 THE PENTATEUCH. 

To Zabulon,— " In thy going out," he said 
M O Zabulon ! and in thy tents, be glad, 
Isaachar ! to the mountains they shall call 
Thy people, and upon their tops shall all 
Their sacrifices offer, and shall slay 
Victims of justice, and, as milk, shall they 
Suck the deep sea's abundance, and their hands 
Shall search the hidden treasures of the sands." 

He said to Gad, — " Gad in his breadth be blest. 

For like a lion he hath taken his rest ; 

He seized the arm and head, and from his high 

Preeminence, as his, doth he descry 

Laid up the teacher, justices to tell, 

And deal out judgment unto Israel." 

To Dan he said, — " A lion young is Dan ; 
He shall flow plentifully from Basan." 

To Nepthali he said :— " To Nepthali 
Abundance, as his portion, there shall be. 
Him shall the Lord with richest favors bless ; 
The ocean and the south shall he possess." 

He said to Aser, — " Blest with children he, 
And to his brethren acceptable be : 
Dip he his foot in oil ; for it must bear 
A shoe of iron and of brass ; as were 
The days of youth, so shall thy old age be. 
There is no God, save of the rightest ; He 
Who sitteth mounted on the highest heaven 
Thy helper is, by whom the clouds are driven 
Hither and thither, subject to his breath : 
His dwelling he hath made above ; beneath 



THE PENTATEUCH. 71 

Are stretched the everlasting arms ; to naught, 
Driven before him, shall the foe be brought: 
Under the wings of peace shall Israel, 
Alone and happy in his safety, dwell. 
A land of corn and wine to Jacob's view, 
And skies all misty with perpetual dew." 

Having, thus far, dwelt on the contents of the 
Pentateuch, I now arrive at the second part of 
the subject, namely, the divinity of its inspiration. 
This character of divinity appears from the man- 
ner in which Moses invariably speaks, addressing 
himself to the people, not in his own name, but in 
the name of the Omnipotent. He breaks upon 
the nation like a messenger from on high; his 
language is the language of Heaven's ambassador. 
He is commissioned by the Lord to write the 
laws promulgated by Divine authority. If the 
mission of Moses be derived from above, it ne- 
cessarily follows that the Pentateuch is divinely 
inspired. But the divinity of his mission is at- 
tested in a twofold manner, — by his miracles and 
his prophecies. Miracles in Egypt, in the pas- 
sage of the Red Sea, and in the desert, all which 
prodigious occurrences manifestly transcended 
the ordinary laws of nature, and are related in a 
simple, grave, and unaffected style. He mentions 
dates, designates places, names persons. He dis- 
plays them anew to the eyes of his readers, who 



72 THE PENTATEUCH. 

had been witnesses of them, or, at least, beheld 
around them the monuments erected to perpetuate 
their memory. Nor do all these marvels reflect 
honor upon its people. Some, on the contrary, 
are humiliating to their pride, and an everlasting 
stigma upon many of their posterity. Among 
these may be specified the death of Dathan and 
Abiron, and the leprosy of Aaron and his sister. 
The Israelites gave credence to these facts,— they 
followed Moses to the desert on the strength of 
his prodigious achievements, submitted to the 
yoke of a heavy law, and clung to their leader 
with a fidelity little short of enthusiasm. Would 
this have been the case, had the narrative 
of Moses been a fiction? Would he not have 
been contradicted, and refuted, and abandoned ? 
Would it have been possible for him to impose 
so flagrant and notorious a delusion on the com- 
mon sense of an entire nation, and entail it upon 
all posterity? No, men believed the writings of 
Moses because they knew the veracity of them ; 
the events were fresh, and had been witnessed by 
a whole nation. They were acknowledged to be 
miraculous, and, consequently, it follows that the 
divinity of Moses' mission and the inspiration of 
the Pentateuch are signalized and attested by his 
miracles. 



THE PENTATEUCH. 73 

It is, moreover, confirmed by his prophecies. 
The accomplishment of events, predicted years, 
and even centuries, previous to their coming to 
pass, can be the effect only of supernatural inspi- 
ration. The seer, who, fired with a heavenly 
enthusiasm, summons up from the deep womb of 
the future deeds and persons, and describes them 
with the accuracy of one before whose eye they 
are existing, cannot be less than an ambassador 
from the Eternal before whom "a thousand years 
are but as yesterday." Now Moses did this : 
predicted the prosperity of Israel, if faithful to 
the worship of Jehovah, and his calamities, if 
recreant to his commandments, — that fertility 
should dwell in the soil, that abundance should 
cover the land, that peace should hover over the 
nation, as long as they would continue obedient 
to the Lord their God. But if they should fall 
into idolatry, he warned them that all these 
blessings should be withdrawn from them : they 
should become the prey of their enemies, their 
beautiful land should be seized upon by the ra- 
pacity of strangers, and they themselves carried 
away into ignominious captivity. That all these 
predictions have been verified, no one acquainted 
with the history of the Jews can deny. The 
skeptic cannot cite an epoch when Israel was rich 
7 



74 THE PENTATEUCH. 

or powerful, without being, at the same time, 
faithful to the Law; and never was he forgetful 
of it, never guilty of the crime of idolatry, 
without being visited with condign punishments 
on account of his prevarication. In the midst of 
the surrounding providences of Heaven, the peo- 
ple murmur ; and Moses predicts, that, in chas- 
tisement of their ingratitude and mutiny, not one 
among them, — with the exception of Caleb and 
Josue, — over the age of twenty years, should 
reach the promised land. What was the result ? 
Those two individuals alone excepted, the six 
hundred thousand souls who were then living 
perished, according to the terrible pre-announce- 
ment of their fate, in the heart of the wilderness. 

Again, Moses foretold that the succession in 
the Jewish priesthood should be confined to the 
family of Phinees. This, too, was faithfully real- 
ized. For that favored family alone held the 
pontifical censer in the days of David, as well as 
in those of the Machabees, and the long and 
uninterrupted series of pontiffs which we dis- 
cover in the holy writings is traced exclusively 
through the posterity of Phinees. 

He predicted, that, in consequence of not al- 
ways having displayed sufficient confidence, during 
their trials, in the protecting providence of Jeho- 



THE PENTATEUCH. 75 

vah, neither himself nor his brother Aaron should 
reach the land of promise. And both were, in 
effect, doomed to forego the privilege of treading 
upon that blessed soil, in sight of whose fertile 
plains and smiling valleys they were gathered to 
their fathers. 

But still another, and a more extraordinary, 
prediction did he make, — one which, in the minds 
of the remotest posterity, and of all the inhabi- 
tants of the world, was to be the unerring test of 
his inspiration and the divinity of his mission. 
This was, that all nations should, one day, be 
brought to the knowledge and worship of the true 
God, and should be blessed in the seed of Abra- 
ham. And thousands of years after this announce- 
ment, we cast our eyes around the globe, and are 
filled with amazement, and confirmed in our faith 
in the Divinity of the Pentateuch, at contemplat- 
ing the event. The gods of the Gentiles have 
been forgotten, the temples reared to them in 
Egypt, and in other once gorgeous and potent 
regions, when idolatry swayed the earth, have 
mouldered away, while the God of Abraham is 
adored and served wherever the sun shines, by 
Christian and by Jew. 

He declared, moreover, that in the fulness of 
time, God would raise up, from among the Jew- 



76 THE PENTATEUCH. 

ish race, a prophet like himself, and a legislator 
supreme, whom all men were commanded to hear 
and believe, under the penalty of drawing upon 
themselves the wrath of Heaven. This wonder- 
ful personage was, indeed, to appear amid cir- 
cumstances less terrific than those that accompa- 
nied the mission of Moses, but with credentials 
from the same Divine authority, — nay, with a per- 
son of itself Divine, inasmuch as he was to be the 
Son of God and the Redeemer of mankind. Hear 
the words in which the author of the Pentateuch 
foretells, in the name of the Eternal, the advent of 
that Saviour :~" I will raise them up a prophet 
out of the midst of their brethren like to thee : 
and I will put my words in his mouth, and he 
shall speak to them all that I shall command him." 
— Deuteron. xviii, 18. Has that prophet been 
" raised up ?" The w r orld has witnessed his com- 
ing. In Judea, as foretold, he made his appear- 
ance; born of a virgin of Nazareth, he came 
forth from its shady valleys into the city of Jeru- 
salem, and proclaimed his law ; — not, indeed, en- 
veloped in dark clouds, and speaking amid the 
clangor of trumpets and the peals of thunder, but 
clothed in simplicity and meekness, like a brother 
among brethren, — vindicating his character as 
" the prophet " by innumerable miracles, dis- 



THE PENTATEUCH. 77 

charging the functions which brought him into the 
world, and accomplishing to the letter the predic- 
tion of Moses. 

Christians contemplate the fulfilment of the 
prophecy in the august and Divine person of Je- 
sus of Nazareth. The Jews combine with Chris- 
tians in its ultimate fulfilment, if not, according to 
their idea, in Him, certainly, at some indefinite 
period, in their expected Messiah. Their incre- 
dulity, however, in the true " prophet " has not 
gone unavenged. The woes that have befallen 
their race, exiled from the Holy City, and scat- 
tered, without an altar, a priesthood, or a sacri- 
fice, to the four quarters of the globe, prove the 
denunciation of the Messiah to be realized in their 
regard : — " Ego ultor existam, I will be the re- 
venger.' 5 

Independently of these external characters of 
Divinity impressed upon the mission and writings 
of Moses, there are others of an intrinsic nature, 
which demonstrate the spirit of God by which he 
was directed. Impostors are not in the habit of 
giving very sublime ideas of the Deity, or of en- 
forcing men's mutual and necessary duties towards 
one another, or of vindicating the majesty and 
sanctity of truth. Moses, on the contrary, labors 

to inculcate, on every occasion, the loftest notions 

7# 



78 THE PENTATEUCH. 

of the magnificence and greatness of Jehovah ; 
has published the wisest laws touching our rela- 
tions with our fellow-men ; and produced the most 
solemn, unequivocal, and convincing evidences of 
the verity of his doctrines. To this end has he 
instituted the pomp and splendor of the Jewish 
ceremonial, which incomparably surpasses the in- 
ventions of other wise men, and sealed all the ele- 
ments of his system by laws infinitely wiser and 
purer than those of Zeleucus, Solon, or Lycurgus, 
— laws breathing a spirit of philosophy so sublime 
and excellent as never to have been emulated, 
much less equalled, in the most polished and en- 
lightened subsequent epochs of time. From the 
miracles, therefore, and the prophecies of Moses, 
as well as from his virtues, disinterestedness, and 
veracity, his character as an inspired writer is 
unquestionable. Consequently, the Pentateuch is 
a divine book. 

I am not ignorant of the objections which in- 
fidel philosophy has brought against the inspira- 
tion of the Pentateuch. I know that criticism 
has contested its authenticity and integrity ; that 
astronomy, history, and geology have essayed to 
contravene its epochs and its data ; that chemistry 
has taxed with absurdity the natural events it 
records, and ethics have condemned as cruel. 



THE PENTATEUCH. 79 

unjust, and imprudent the legislation it decrees. 
But, on the other hand, I likewise know that all 
these difficulties have been thoroughly investi- 
gated, and entirely removed, by the aid of sound 
and enlightened philosophy. It would, indeed, 
be a truly instructive and eminently interesting 
study for every Christian, to apply the principles 
of such philosophy to all the perplexing questions 
which are deemed paradoxical by the superficial 
criticism of the impious philosopher, — the crea- 
tion, the fall of man in the garden of Eden, the 
deluge, the history of the kings of Egypt, the 
passage of the Red Sea, the miracles in the 
desert, the story of Balaam, and the right of the 
Israelites to take possession of the land of Ca- 
naan. On these subjects a series of important 
essays might be written to great advantage; 
the matter, as appears from the mere heads, is 
copious, nay, inexhaustible, and I shall readily be 
excused from so much as touching upon it in the 
present chapter. A few words more may, per- 
haps, be allowed me, to lay before the reader a last 
and irrefragable argument in vindication of the 
Divinity of the Pentateuch. It is this : — All 
Scripture has been WTitten, not merely with the 
assistance, but under the immediate inspiration, of 
the Holy Ghost; but the Pentateuch constitutes 



80 THE PENTATEUCH. 

a part of the Scripture. This proposition has 
never been disputed by the Christian or Jew ; it 
is denied only by the skeptic, who eschews all 
revelation, or by the Manichaean, who pretended 
that the Ancient Testament was the production 
of the Evil Principle, or by the Albigenses, the 
lineal descendants of the followers of Manes, 
who, though they be lauded by the declamation 
of the enemies of Rome as true evangelical Chris- 
tians, yet rejected the Pentateuch, and the Old 
Testament, with the exception of the few isolated 
passages which Christ or the Apostles have 
quoted from them. 

The usual arguments which are employed to 
demonstrate the inspiration of the Old Testament 
in general, serve still more directly and more for- 
cibly to prove that of the Pentateuch in particular, 
which is supported by the unvarying and perpe- 
tual tradition of the Jewish people ; and not only 
by the orthodox Hebrews, but likewise by all 
sects, — Samaritans, Hellenist Jews, and others, 
unanimously admit and hold to the inspiration of 
these writings of Moses. The Church, too, 
which was made by Christ the depository of all 
truth, whether written or traditionary, has ever 
esteemed inspired, and venerated and handed 
down as such, the books of the Pentateuch. Of 



THE PENTATEUCH. 81 

this there is a bright and perpetual chain of evi- 
dences in the canons of the General Councils, in 
the writings of the Fathers, and in the discipline 
of the Church ordaining the public reading of 
those books, to confirm the faith of her children, 
by opening to them the primitive fountains of 
inspiration and Divine revelation. From those 
unerring sources the early Apologists of the 
Christian religion were accustomed to draw their 
strongest arguments, — and, in a word, their au- 
thority was never questioned or disputed by the 
Catholic or the heterodox. 




CHAPTER VII. 

THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGES OF THE SCRIPTURE, THEIR 
TRANSLATION, AND CANONICITY. 

As the Ancient Testament comprises all the 
books written under Divine Inspiration, before, so 
the New Testament is composed of those divinely 
inspired after, the coming of Jesus Christ. These 
are: the four Gospels of St. Matthew, Luke, 
Mark, and John ; the Acts of the Apostles com- 
piled by St. Luke ; fourteen Epistles of St. Paul : 
to the Romans one, to the Corinthians two, to the 
Galatians one, to the Ephesians one, to the Phi- 
lippians one, to the Colossians one, to the Thessa- 
lonians two, to Timothy two, to Titus one, to 
Philemon one, to the Hebrews one ; two Epistles 
of St. Peter ; three of St. John ; one of St. James ; 
one of St. Jude, and the Apocalypse of St. John. 
Of all these, the Church recognizes and teaches 
the undoubted canonicity. 

The original tongue spoken by man is generally 
supposed to have been the Hebrew. No other 
language was formed until after the deluge, and 
the destruction of the Tower of Babel. 



ORIGINAL LANGUAGES OF THE SCRIPTURE, &C. 83 

The Old Testament was written in that tongue, 
with the exception of a few books in which the 
inspired Hagiographers have spoken of celebrated 
personages, and given rules of conduct relative to 
morals and religion. 

The New Testament was written in Greek, 
with the exception of the Gospel of St. Matthew 
and St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, which 
were composed in modern Hebrew. 

As these Divine Books were intended for all 
nations, it became necessary that they should be 
faithfully translated into" the different languages. 
Of the Old Testament an authentic version was 
made into Greek by the seventy wise men, under 
Ptolomy the Second, surnamed Philadelphus, 
King of Egypt. Hence the appellation of the 
Septuagint. That translation afforded to millions 
of foreign people the opportunity of reading those 
sacred writings, and of deriving from them the 
knowledge of divine truth. St. Chrysostom con- 
siders it a great miracle that a Barbarian King, a 
perfect stranger to the true Religion, should have 
caused the Scripture to be translated into the 
Greek tongue, thereby propagating the knowledge 
and revelations of God, among all the nations of 
the earth. And St. Augustine happily remarks : 
that " the jealousy of the Jews prevented them 



84 ORIGINAL LANGUAGES OF THE SCRIPTURE, 

from communicating to strangers the Divine 
Scriptures : but God employed an idolatrous 
King to make them known to the Gentile na- 
tions." 

That this translation was accurate and approved 
by the Jews themselves, is certain from the fact, 
that it was so considered and revered, in the life- 
time of Jesus Christ and the Apostles. 

Another version, both of the Old and New 
Testament, was made into the Latin language, by 
St. Jerome, in 405, and is called the Vulgate.* 
This is the only translation which the Council 
of Trent pronounces accurate: and is conse- 
quently venerated as such by the whole Catho- 
lic world. 

The Apocalypse was written in Greek by St. 
John on the Island of Patmos, to which he was 
exiled by the Emperor Nero. The subject is 
prophetical, and abounds with images, symbols, 
and all the beauties of Oriental poesy ; through 
which he makes known his revelations and the 
principal events relating to the Religion of Christ; 
the abolition of the Jewish worship, and the ter- 
mination of their political existence ; the destruc- 
tion of Paganism and of the Roman Empire ; the 
triumph of Christianity over the synagogue ; the 

* From the Latin word Vulgari —to spread abroad. 



THEIR TRANSLATION, AND CANONICITY. 85 

glory of the Church on earth, the last judgment, 
and the felicity of the saints in Heaven* 

The first Canon was that of Esdras, a Hebrew 
Priest, under Artaxerxes, King of Persia, who, 
while in Babylon with his exiled nation, obtained 
permission to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem, 
and regulated everything relating to Divine wor- 
ship. To this Canon, which is that of the Jews, 
the Catholic Church has added the Books of To- 
bias, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, the 
fragments of Esther and Daniel, and the Mac- 
habees. 

At the period of the exile of the Jews, the sa- 
cred writings were scattered, and thrown into 
confusion. Esdras collected all the copies that 
were to be found, after which an edition as cor- 
rect as possible, was made. In the room of 
phrases which had grown obsolete, he substituted 
others better known. He put all in order, and 
replaced the Hebrew characters by Chaldaic, 
with which the Jews had, during the seventy 
years of their captivity, become familiar. 

* Chri3t admitted the Ancient Testament to be divine : he 
styles it the divine Law, and the divine Scripture, The Apos- 
tles cited it as such against Jews and Pagans. Among the 
profane writers, who have made mention of Christ, are Sueto- 
nius, Tacitus, Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman Historians : 
Josephus, the Jew, aud Phlegon, an historian of Asia Minor. 

9 



86 ORIGINAL LANGUAGES OF THE SCRIPTURE, 

The last Canon is that drawn up by the Coun- 
cil of Trent (so called from the name of the city 
in Austria in which it was held.) That Council 
was convoked in the year 1542, and opened in 
1545, under the Pontificate of Paul III, and closed 
in 1563, under that of Pius IV. 

The principal motives for celebrating that last 
General Council were to expound and vindicate 
the doctrines of the Church, which had been at- 
tacked and rejected by Luther, Calvin, Zuinglius, 
the reformation of manners, and the revival of 
strict ecclesiastical discipline. The Fathers who 
subscribed the acts and articles were in number 
two hundred and fifty-five. They pronounced 
the Vulgate authentic, and caused it to be revised 
after the most ancient manuscripts, and in the 
original text. This revision appeared at Rome 
in 1590, and was to be forever after, the only 
rule to be used in the Church.* 

From w r hat has been remarked — briefly, but 
I hope, clearly, on this subject — it follows, that 
the Bible is divinely inspired, the Book, by ex- 
cellence, unique, inimitable, and, of course, that 
the revelations made through it are divine. In 
perusing this sacred volume, the reader should be 
actuated by simplicity, sincerity, and humility: 

* Constilutione perpetua valitura. 



THEIR TRANSLATION, AND CANONICITY. 87 

not by a spirit of doubt, litigation, or self-opinion. 
And he should, moreover, feel, that there are 
" many things hard to be understood," and that 
lay the most towering intellect in the dust ; so far 
are they above the comprehension of the human 
mind. 

" All Doctors," observes an excellent writer, 
" all Philosophers, all men, in a word, give infalli- 
ble evidence of their weakness, and passions, 
either by what they say, or by the manner in 
which they express themselves. Seneca's wri- 
tings abound with fine precepts and maxims of 
virtue : but it is manifest, that his object was to 
immortalize himself by his writings. Were there 
no other proof of this, it would appear from his 
elaborate study to clothe his thoughts in an agree- 
able style, and his perpetual affectation of wit. 
Plato, whose ideas of the Divinity were far more 
correct than those of the common people, had the 
weakness to cover his sentiments. Socrates, on 
going to execution, hesitated whether death was 
a good or an evil. Such was his vacillation . . . 
All those Pagans who have treated of virtue have 
fallen into this error : that all their dissertations 
have in view more the reputation of the sage, 
than the desire to recommend virtue."* 

* Abaddius. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE APOCRYPHA. 

No human authority could ever distinguish the 
authentic writings from those that fall under the 
head of this chapter. It is only the Church, 
which, being the depository of God's holy word, 
can separate the genuine from the spurious. 
Many who are, from education, opposed to every 
thing Catholic, and who dispute the divine cha- 
racter of some of the Sacred Books, can give no 
reason for their conduct to satisfy the interroga- 
tory : why do you reject them as Apocryphal ? 

There are two classes of Apochryphal books. 
The first consists of certain pseudo-epigraphic 
writings from the pens of good men and even 
Prophets, but are excluded from the Canon, on 
account of their having been altered and interpo- 
lated by the early Heretics. Such are the third 
and fourth Books of Esdras ; the third and fourth 
of the Machabees; the prayer of Manasses, of 
which mention is made in the twenty-third chap- 
ter of Paralipomenon '* the hundred and fifty-first 
Psalm, said to have been composed by David after 
* Verse 19. 



THE APOCRYPHA. 89 

the defeat of Goliah ; the Prologue of the Book 
of Ecclesiasticus ; a short preface to the Lamenta 
tions of Jeremiah; and the Greek appendix to 
the second and last chapter of the Book of Job. 

The second class is made up of writings, which 
being the works of Rabbis and impious men, are 
filled with falsehood and errors. Such are the 
Psalms of Adam and Eve ; the Gospel of Eve ; 
the Book of the generations of Adam ; the Ascen- 
sion and Assumption of Moses ; the little Genesis ; 
the Testament of the twelve Patriarchs; the Gos- 
pel according to the Hebrews, the Egyptians, and 
the twelve Apostles ; the Syriac Gospel ; the 
Gospels of Basilides, Apelles, and Tatian ; the 
Acts of Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, proscribed 
by Pope Gelasius ; the Acts or Periods of St. 
Peter ; the Acts of St. John the Evangelist ; of 
St. Philip, St. Matthew ; and the Apocalypses of 
Thomas, Stephen, and others. 

Let it not be said, that there is an intrinsic evi- 
dence of divine inspiration in some Books, and of 
spuriousness in others. This pretension will never 
convince the mind of the learned and conscien- 
tious Catholic, who can perceive as strong claims, 
on this score, to the inspiration in Ecclesiasticus, 
for instance, as his opponent can discover in Gen- 
esis, or the Canticle of Canticles. 
9* 



90 THE APOCRYPHA. 

To the care of the Church was confided the 
Sacred Volume by the wisdom of Him who in- 
spired the one, and established the other. Through 
her vigilance and solicitude it was transcribed by 
faithful copyists, without the change of an iota ; 
and it comes down to us perfect, as it were by a 
renewed inspiration, when a single comma mis- 
placed or omitted would have materially affected 
the whole system of Christianity. What power 
but that which is clothed with infallibility could 
make us certain that no such mis-collocation or 
omission was made by the oversight, neglect, or 
premeditation of the Amanuensis ? 




CHAPTER IX. 

THE SENTIMENTS OF PHILOSOPHERS AND GREAT 
WRITERS RESPECTING THE ANCIENT TESTAMENT. 

It is strange to find what admirable testimonies 
in behalf of the Divinity^grandeur, and sanctity 
of the Bible are to be culled from the writings 
not only of great Christian writers, but also of 
infidel. All seem to have felt the mysterious 
influence with which it always swayed the human 
mind from the remotest ages. They concur in 
the declarations of St. Augustine, that those who 
were the best teachers of the people, in the ages 
nearest the Apostles, never hesitated to place the 
authority of this Book above their own, and when 
they cited it, were convinced that it rested upon 
no other authority than that of God Himself. 

" The authors of the nineteenth century," 
writes Benjamin Constant, " who have treated 
the Sacred Books with a contempt mixed with 
fury, have judged of antiquity in a manner la- 
mentably superficial ; and the Jews are a nation 
whose genius, character, and religious institutions 
are less known than those of any other. To 
amuse oneself, with Voltaire, at the expense of 



92 SENTIMENTS OF PHILOSOPHERS, &C. 

Ezekiel and Genesis, we must unite two things 
which render that amusement very sad : the pro- 
foundest ignorance, and most deplorable fri- 
volity."* 

D'Alembert confesses that " the titles of the 
divinity of Christianity are contained in the 
Books of the Old and New Testaments. The 
severest criticism has ^recognized their authen- 
ticity ; the sternest reason respects the truth of 
the facts they relate, and the soundest philosophy, 
relying upon their authenticity and truth, con- 
cludes from the one and the other, that they are 
divinely inspired." f 

And J. J. Rousseau: "I take the Scripture 
and Tradition for my rules of Faith." J 

" Newton, that great man," writes Fontenelle, 
" was not content with mere natural religion : he 
was persuaded of Revelation, and among all 
books that which he read most assiduously was 
the Bible." 

Shaftsbury declared that he believed firmly 
the facts and dogmas which are taught by Reli- 
gion, persuaded of its divinity, and of the inspira- 
tion of the Sacred Scriptures, to which every 
human understanding should submit. " Libertines 
and profane men only," he adds, " can deny abso- 

* Tom. i. ch. 2. f Encyclop. Christ. \ Emile. 



RESPECTING THE ANCIENT TESTAMENT. 93 

lutely, or contest the authority of, the smallest 
line, or one syllable, of those sacred books." 
And Racine syigs : 

" In this blest book, revered in every age, 
The number even of the words themselves 
Was held a sacred number : no rash hand 
Could dare profanely alter that wise Law 
Which now condemns the Jews ; and clearly shews 
How justly founded is the chastisement, 
So long and painful, which they have sustained." 

" On the left hand of the platform of the walls 
of Jerusalem," such is the eloquent description of 
Lamartine, " the hill which overlooks the city 
suddenly widens, slopes down, and developes to 
the eye its gentle declivities, supported here and 
there, by terraces of stones. This hill, some 
hundred paces from Jerusalem, is topped by a 
mosque and crowned with groups of Turkish 
edifices, not unlike a hamlet of Europe, adorned 
with its church and steeple. This hill is Sign : 
the palace and tomb of David ; the place of his 
inspirations and delights, of his life and repose. 
Place doubly sacred to me, whose heart has so 
often been touched, and whose mind ravished, by 
his divine songs. He is first of the Poets of 
sentiment. He is the Prince of Lyrics. The 
fibres of man have never trembled with accents 



94 SENTIMENTS OF PHILOSOPHERS, &C 

so deep, so penetrating, and so grave., Never 
have the Poet's thoughts ascended so high, and 
been so justly expressed. Nev^pr did the human 
soul pour itself forth before man and God in 
strains and sentiments so tender, so sympathetic, 
and so harrowing. All the most secret moanings 
of the human heart have found voices and notes 

on the lips and harp of this man He seems 

the anticipated echo of the evangelical poesy, 
repeating the sweet words of Christ before he 
heard them. Prophet or not, according as he 
may be considered by Christian or Philosopher, 
no one can deny the Poet-King an inspiration 
never accorded to any other man. Read Horace 
or Pindar after a Psalm : for myself, I cannot. . . . 
"It was at the foot of these turpentine trees, the 
ancestors of that which covers me now, that the 
Sacred Poet came to await the breath which 
inspired him so melodiously. Why can I not 
meet it, to sing the sorrows of my heart, and of 
every heart, in this unquiet age, as he sang the 
hopes of his youth and his Faith ! But there is 
no more music in the human heart ; for despair 
does not sing, and until some new ray shall fall 
upon the darksome humanity of our days, the 
Lyre will lie mute, and men will pass on in 
silence, between two abysses of doubt, without 
having loved, or prayed, or sung." 



RESPECTING THE ANCIENT TESTAMENT. 95 

" The Psalms," says Le Franc de Pompig- 
nan, " are above all eulogy. The soul finds in 
them all the sentiments necessary to live in peace 
with oneself, with men, with God. All the 
resources he stands in need of in misfortune and 
oppression. By the side of menaces and chas- 
tisements walk hope, consolation, and favor." 

" The first chapters of Proverbs ," remarks 
Salgues, " are written in a poetical manner : all 
the ideas are there embellished by the charm of 
its figures and diction. It is a brilliant eulogy of 
wisdom, with a vivid and animated invitation to 
follow her dictates. The tenth and following 
chapters are in a different style. All is simple 
and modest. Ornament disappears to give place 
to counsels and maxims, the sublimity of which 
cannot be too greatly admired. What adds new 
merit to this precious work, is that the brow of 
the Moralist is never supercilious or austere. His 
precepts have nothing of the dryness and gloom 
of the Stoic Philosophy, which is sometimes 
admired, but seldom loved." 

And Amar : " Solomon, in giving advice, 
assumes the gentle name of Father : and this title 
is justified on every page, in every word, by the 
very nature of the subject, and the manner in 
which it is conveyed." 



96 SENTIMENTS OF PHILOSOPHERS, &C. 

The Canticle of Canticles may be considered, 
as Dr. Blair justly remarks, a beautiful piece of 
pastoral poetry. In its spiritual sense it is un- 
doubtedly a mystic allegory ; from the beginning 
to the end, it is filled with images borrowed from 
nature, and from pastoral life. 

The following poetical tribute to the ancient 
Testament, by Fontanes, will conclude this 
subject : 

Who hath not read, who hath not oft admired 
That Book by Heaven for the Jews inspired. 
Racine and Bossuet it, at once, hath charmed, 
The latter with God's vengeful thunder armed, 
Hath, as it were, from Sinai's summit hurled 
Destruction against error and the world. 
The former, blending on his tragic page 
Beauty and terror brings upon the stage 
The Holy City — and then Rousseau's muse 
Seizes the Harp of Sion, which he strews 
With noble language and with pompous rhyme, 
And wakes a song prophetic and sublime. 

Poets and Orators example take : 
Enthusiasm dwells upon the lake. 
On Jordan's banks, on Lebanon's proud height, 
In Eden's bowers of beauty and delight. 
'Mong them the world's first vestiges are found ; 
There, without number, prodigies abound. 
God speaks— man lives ; and sleeping, for awhile, 
Awakes beneath his consort's modest smile. 
Then with the innocence that swayed his heart, 
His heaven -born peace and happiness depart. 



RESPECTING THE ANCIENT TESTAMENT. 97 

The first just, man expires — O guilt profound ! 
And in the flood the wicked world is drowned. 
The ark alone, beneath the Eternal's eye, 
Above the engulphing billows rises high, 
While all things else in ruin wide are whirled, 
Sole hope of the regenerated world. 
Beneath their peaceful tents I see around 
Chiefs of the people, Patriarchs renowned, 
Abraham and Jacob : to our latest days 
The East their brilliant vestiges displays, 
Which o'er our manners shed, as from the sky, 
A light of innocence and simplicity. 
At Rachel's tomb I pause with saddened heart — 
To Egypt soon, her son bids me depart. 
O Joseph, by thy brethren's hate pursued, 
How often have my eyes, in pensive mood, 
Shed o'er the pages which thy woes relate 
Tears of compassion for thy wretched fate. 
The faithful tribes torn from their hallowed plains, 
Groan near the Nile beneath the captive chains, 
But God is with them and his own he saves : 
Who is that infant floating on the waves ? 
'Tis He whose arm will raise up Israel's pride : 
Haste, Pharaoh's daughter, to the river's side, 
Rescue the child, protection safe bestow 
On Him ordained to terminate her woe. 

The waters of the deep, at his command, 
Afford a passage to his chosen band, 
And Israel, freed from Pharaoh's iron rod, 
Raises her song of gratitude to God. 
Upon the mountain, red with flaming smoke, 
The Law is published — amid thunder spoke 
Jehovah, from the deep and lowering cloud 
Which wrapt Mount Sinai in its awful shroud. 
10 



98 SENTIMENTS OF PHILOSOPHERS, &C. 

The pillar black and luminous, by turns, 
Shadows the day, and in the dark night burns : 
While as they journey towards the promised land 
The desert owns Jehovah's mighty hand — 
On Gabaon's walls the chariot of the sun 
Stands still : see that devoted one 
Jephta's lost daughter, fair but fated child, 
A mourning virgin on the mountains wild. 

The fickle people seek, with mumurings, 
To change the laws : God scourges them with Kings. 
Saul reigns and falls—a shepherd takes his place, 
The hopes of nations centre in his race — 
Bravest of monarchs; — when his reign is done, 
The wisest mounts the consecrated throne. 
Next Levi's Sons around the altar stand 
The censer in each consecrated hand 

I raise my dazzled eyes and lo ! afar 
Elijah mounting on his fiery car. 
With Raguel and Tobias bread I break, 
And of their hospitality partake. 
I hear those holy men, whose voices ring 
Amid the past, and of the future sing: 
I see great Empires, on their destined day, 
And all their glory, tottering, in decay. 
In ashes Sidon, Queen of Waters, lies ; 
What shrieks of wo towards the Euphrates rise ! 
Juda, who seated on a distant shore, 
Didst weep, rejoice ! thy misery is o'er. 
The mighty arm is raised to avenge thy woe, 
And lay the tyrant who oppressed thee low. 
Soon shall Jerusalem, glorious, as of old, 
Her Esdras and her Machabees behold. 
Sion is bright — Messiah's reign is near; 
Before whose orb I pause in my career. 



CHAPTER X. 

SENTIMENTS OF PHILOSOPHERS AND GREAT WRI- 
TERS RESPECTING THE GOSPEL. 

The Religion of the Gospel shrinks not from 
the light, but on the contrary, courts the inquiry 
of Learning and Philosophy. From the cloud 
which Scepticism and Error sometimes throw 
over her Beauty, she does not fail to emerge, 
with renewed and fresher radiance, which is in- 
creased by the testimonies which she receives 
from the genius of the most gifted and illustrious 
writers. 

" Religion," says Victor Cousin, " occupies 
a considerable place in life. She receives us at 
our birth, marks us with her seal, watches over 
and governs our infancy and youth, interposes in 
all the great movements of life, and stands by 
us in our last hour. One cannot be born, or live, 
or die, without Her. She is found every where ; 
the earth is covered with her monuments, and it 
is impossible not to witness her demonstrations, 
or feel her influence." 

Guizot writes : " Two sublime powers, Reli- 
gion and philosophy, have for their object the 



100 SENTIMENTS OF PHILOSOPHERS, &C 

happiness of man, with this difference, that, under 
the empire of Religion, Nature is guided by a 
wisdom which cannot be deceived." 

" That divine Book, the Gospel," Rousseau 
thus expresses his sentiments on this matter, " the 
only book necessary for a Christian, and the most 
useful of all others even to him who is not, need 
only be meditated upon, to penetrate the soul 
with a love of its Author, and a desire to fulfil 
his precepts. Never has Virtue uttered a lan- 
guage so sweet. Never has the most perfect 
Wisdom spoken with so much energy and sim- 
plicity. One cannot peruse it without being 
better than before."* 

And again : " The majesty of the Bible aston- 
ishes me : the sanctity of the Gospel speaks to 
my heart. See the works of the philosophers 
with all their pomps : how little they are by the 
side of that : can a book so sublime and simple 
be the work of man ? Can it be that He whose 
history it relates is but a man himself? Is that 
the tone of an Enthusiast or an ambitious Lec- 
turer ? What sweetness ! what purity in His 
morals ! what touching grace in His instructions ! 
what elevation in His maxims ! what presence of 
mind ! what accuracy and justness in His answers ! 

* Emile, 



RESPECTING THE GOSPEL. 101 

what command over His passions ! Where is the 
Man, where is the Philosopher, who can act, 
suffer, and die without weakness, and without 
ostentation ? When Plato paints his imaginary 
just man, covered with all the opprobrium of 
crime, and yet worthy of all the honors of virtue, 
he paints, trait after trait, the person of Jesus 
Christ. The resemblance is so striking, that all 
the Fathers have noticed it, and it cannot be mis- 
taken. What prejudices, what blindness must 
there not be, to compare the Son of Sophronica 
with the Son of Mary ! 

" Shall it be said, that the history of the Gospel 
is an invention ? But the facts of Socrates, which 
no one doubts, are less authenticated than those 
of Jesus Christ. ... It would be more incon- 
ceivable that several men had conspired to fabri- 
cate this book, than it is that one man alone 
should have formed the subject of it. No Jewish 
authors could ever have discovered its tone or its 
moral : and the Gospel is stamped with charac- 
ters of truth so grand, so striking, so perfectly 
immutable, that the inventor of it would have 
been more astonishing than the Hero." 

" We do not respect this book precisely as a 
book, but as the word and life of Jesus Christ." * 

* Leltre de la Mont. liv. iv> 

10* 



102 SENTIMENTS OF PHILOSOPHERS, &C. 

"The Gospel is sublime, and the strongest 
bond of society." # 

Justly has Pope Clement XIV remarked, 
" that the Gospel is the rule of the Christian ; 
it should be the principle and foundation of 
Religion." 

And Chateaubriand : "An effort has been made 
to regard as fanatically persecuting, the enemy of 
letters, the sciences, and the arts, the enemy of 
human liberty, a religion which is tolerance and 
charity itself: a religion to which we owe the 
noblest discoveries of genius. Far from causing 
the mind to retrograde, or from favoring oppres- 
sion, Christianity has thrown open the chaos of 
our nature: it has shewn that man, who was 
supposed to have attained all his virility among 
the Romans, was yet in his cradle. It has given 
the strides of a giant to the advancement of so- 
ciety, by abolishing slavery, by declaring to the 
nations that they can and should exist without 
serfs, and proclaiming equality of rights to men. 
A light, when blending with the faculties of the 
mind, — a sentiment, when it associates itself with 
the movements of the soul, — the Christian Religion 
increases with civilization, marches on with time 
towards the perfection of society, and rejects no 

* Control Social. 



RESPECTING THE GOSPEL. 103 

form of government. By governing the people 
as well as kings, it resists only the excess of 
power, from whatever quarter it may spring. It 
is on the morality of the Gospel, the Divine 
Reason, that human reason relies in its progress 
towards an end not yet obtained. Thanks to that 
morality, we have learned that the old age of the 
human race does not deprive it of independence, 
and there is for modern nations a Liberty, the 
offspring of Light, as there was among the An- 
cients a Liberty, the Daughter of Morality."* 

With this profound and elegant sentiment of the 
immortal author of the Genie du Christianisme, 
that of Voltaire, expressed many years before, 
is in perfect accordance: "Religion does not 
deprive us of reason, but purifies and ennobles it. 
Religion does not destroy men, it makes them 
saints." 

And Rousseau, filled with admiration for reli- 
gion, which, in spite of his vagaries and errors, 
ever and anon, burst forth from his glowing 
bosom, exclaims : " What a powerful argument 
against the unbelievers is the life of a Christian ! 
If he reflected with attention, he would be com- 
pelled to say: No, man is not thus of himself; 
something more than human reigns here ! " 

* Discours a VAcademie, Feb. 9, 1826, 



104 SENTIMENTS OF PHILOSOPHERS, &C. 

And in his prize discourse before the Academy of 
Dijon, he breaks out into the same strain : "Ah ! 
how pitiable is the condition of the sceptic ! 
Hope guides him not in this life, which to him 
must seem miserable. I see a deep-fixed melan- 
choly mingling with all his thoughts, and the 
prospect of utter annihilation plunges his soul 
into unspeakable gloom. And what is often the 
consequence ? Life becomes insupportable, he 
has recourse to crime to dissipate his misery, he 
carries into effect that literary error, that false 
maxim of Voltaire : 

* When all is lost, when Hope no longer shines, 
Life is a shame, 'tis duty then to die.' 

" Rash and impious men, who are incessantly 
babbling against Religion, stop your blasphemies, 
acknowledge, at least, that your first duty is to 
be human, and cease spreading abroad doctrines 
pernicious and cheerless, and subversive of social 
order. It is said that the Caliph Omar, on being 
consulted about what should be done with the 
library of Alexandria, replied, if the books con- 
tain anything in opposition to the Alcoran, they 
are bad ; burn them. If they contain nothing but 
what is conformable to it, burn them ; they are 
superfluous. Our learned men have cited this 



RESPECTING THE GOSPEL. 105 

reasoning as the height of absurdity. Yet, sup- 
pose Gregory the Great, in place of the Omar, 
and the Gospel instead of the Koran, the library 
would have been burnt, and that act would have 
been the most beautiful trait in the life of that 
illustrious Pontiff. . . What ought we to think of 
that crowd of obscure writers, and literary idlers, 
who devour the substance of the State ? Idlers, 
did I call them ? Would to God they were in 
effect : their morals would be more sound, and 
society more peaceable. But these vain and 
futile declaimers wander about, armed with their 
fatal paradoxes, sapping the foundations of Faith 
and annihilating Virtue.' They smile contemptu- 
ously at those old words, Country and Religion, 
and devote their Philosophy to the destruction 
and villification of all that is held sacred among 
men. Not that they hate virtue or our dogmas ; 
they are the enemies of public opinion, and in 
order to bring them to the foot of the altar, it 
would be necessary only to rank them among 
Atheists. Oh, ardor, to be distinguished, what 
will thou not do ?" 

So deeply penetrated was Voltaire with the 
truth of the sentiments of Rousseau, that he 
wished " to throw into the fire one-half of what 
he had written, and to revise the other. He had 



106 SENTIMENTS OF PHILOSOPHERS, &C 

so accustomed himself to speak freely that he was 
always ready to write nonsense."* 

And in another place, he does not hesitate to 
make the remarkable avowal, that " he did not 
believe there ever was a Philosopher who did 
not acknowledge, at the hour of his death, that 
he had lost his time." 

" We cannot be reproached," said Bayle, "with 
the assertion that none but small minds have culti- 
vated piety : for we see the best balanced in the 
person of one of the greatest geometricians (Pas- 
cal,) the most subtle metaphysician, and the most 
penetrating genius that the world ever produced." 

" The power of judging well," observes Des- 
cartes, " and distinguishing truth from error, 
which alone makes us men, and distinguishes us 
from the beasts, is naturally equal among all men, 
and whole and entire in each. The diversity of 
our opinions does not arise from the fact that 
some are more reasonable than others, but simply 
because we conduct our thoughts through dif- 
ferent ways." Hence the solidity of the remark 
of Gaillard, in his eulogy of Descartes : " The 
truths of religion, the only fixed and immovable 
truths, constantly float over the ocean of ages, in 
which mere system and opinion are engulphed." 

Tom. 83, page 113. 



RESPECTING THE GOSPEL. 107 

r< Who," asks Benjamin Constant, " in cast- 
ing a glance over the career traced out for us, 
would dare pronounce recourse to religious senti- 
ments as superfluous or useless ! The causes of 
our sorrows are without number. Falsehood may 
calumniate us ; the bonds of an entirely factitious 
society oppress us, Destiny strike us in that 
which me most cherish. Old age advances 
towards us — a dark and solemn epoch — when 
objects become obscure and seem to retire, and a 
cold, dull influence surrounds us. We seek for 
consolation in every direction — and almost every 
consolation is of a religious character. When 
the world abandons us, we form an alliance 
beyond the world : when men persecute us, we 
appeal to a tribunal beyond men : when we see 
our dearest illusions fading away, Justice, Lib- 
erty, our Country, we flatter ourselves that there 
exists, somewhere, a Being who will be true to 
us, if, in spite of our age we have been true to 
Justice, Liberty, and our Country. When we 
regret a cherished object, we throw a bridge 
over the abyss and cross it in thought. In fine, 
as the present life passes, we are hurried towards 
another. Thus is Religion our faithful com- 
panion, and the sincere and indefatigable friend 
of the unfortunate." 



108 SENTIMENTS OP PHILOSOPHERS, &C. 

" Christianity ," says Villemain, " will prevail 
in all parts of the world. From the heart of 
England and of Russia, the Bible, translated into 
every language, is daily spreading among all the 
tribes of Asia, even to the barbarous Septs of 
Tartary, and the most distant Isles of the Great 
Ocean. And although it were not religious pro- 
pagandism, but commerce, civilization, conquest, 
that constituted the main object in view, yet 
Christianity advances, at the same time, through 
all the routes of human activity, and seizes upon 
the universe at every point. This is the revolu- 
tion which the future will witness. In those 
great centres of civilization, Paris and London, 
Christianity has been criticised, contemned, re- 
jected : but at a distance it extends with, and is 
inseparable from, the triumphs of civilization, with 
which it will cover the whole world : and when 
the genius of our arts will be brought to improve 
the nature of those barbarous regions, in the midst 
of all the powers of human industry, the religion 
of the European race will establish itself." 

" There is- not a moral or political truth," 
observes Lamartfne, " but may be found in one 
verse of the Bible. Philanthropy is the offspring 
of its first and essential precept, Charity. Lib- 
erty has walked through the world in her paths, 



RESPECTING THE GOSPEL. 109 

and no degrading servitude can subsist before her 
light. Political equality grows out of the ac- 
knowledgment she has forced us to make of our 
equality and fraternity before God. Laws have 
been softened, inhuman usages abolished, chains 
stricken off. Woman has re-acquired the respect 
of man's heart. In proportion as her word has 
resounded through ages, she has triumphed over 
error or tyranny, and we may say that the present 
entire world, with her laws, morals, institutions, 
hopes, is but the Evangelical word more or less 
incarnated in modern civilization. But her work 
is far from being accomplished. The law of 
progress or perfection, which is the active atffl 
powerful idea of human reason, is the faith of the 
Gospel, which forbids us to stop in the career of 
good, and urges us on to become better and bet- 
ter. That faith forbids us to despair of humanity, 
before whose view she displays, perpetually, more 
brilliant horizons : and the more we open our eyes 
to the light, the more do we descry promises in 
her mysteries, truth in her precepts, and a bound- 
less future in our destinies. 

Cardinal Maury has justly styled Religion a 

"sublime Philosophy,' 5 which demonstrates the 

order, and unity of nature, and explains the enigma 

of the human heart. And Chateaubriand adds, 

11 



110 SENTIMENTS OF PHILOSOPHERS, &C 

" that Christianity bears the scrutiny of reason ; 
the more it is sounded, the deeper it becomes. 
Her mysteries explain man and nature. Her 
works realize her precepts. Her charity, under 
a thousand forms, has taken the place of the cru- 
elty of the ancients. Without losing any of the 
antique pomp, her worship suits more perfectly 
the heart and mind. We owe her every thing, 
letters, the sciences, agriculture, the fine arts. 
She joins morality to Religion, man to God. Je- 
sus Christ, the moral Saviour of mankind, is the 
physical also. He came on earth as a great and 
happy event to counterbalance the deluge of bar- 
barians, and the general corruption of manners. 
If Christianity be denied her supernatural proofs, 
there would still remain in the sublimity of her 
moral, in the immensity of her blessings, in the 
beauty and sublimity of her pomps, enough to 
prove sufficiently that her worship is the most 
divine and pure, that men have ever practised. 
Hence we draw this conclusion: Christianity is 
perfect, men are imperfect. But a perfect conse- 
quence cannot follow from an imperfect principle ; 
therefore Christianity did not proceed from men. 
If it did not come from men, it must have come 
from God. If it come from God, men could 
know it only by revelation. Therefore Christi- 
anity is a revealed Religion." 



CHAPTER XI. 

OF MAN. 

Among all the creatures of earth man alone pre- 
sents himself to our view adorned with reason ; he 
stands erect with his eye fixed on the firmament, 
and treading under his feet the ground, as beneath 
his notice, and unworthy his dignity. His mind is 
filled with ideas, which he expresses by signs and 
articulate words : — he speaks, he communicates, 
in language, his thoughts to his fellow-beings, and 
his abode is in every region and every climate, 
because he is the monarch of Nature. 

He is composed of two substances; the one 
spiritual, the other material. These are inti- 
mately united with each other, and reciprocally 
dependent on one another in their mutual functions. 

The material substance is extended, divisible, 
capable of motion, incapable of intelligence and 
sentiment, and perishable. The spiritual is the 
breath of God — the principle of life, the soul 
formed after God's own image, simple, indivisible, 
immortal, incapable of configuration, capable of 
intelligence and sentiment, destined to know truth, 



112 OF M AN . 

and love good, and having in all its actions, good 
or evil, the consciousness of immortality after this 
life. 

Man was formed by the union of these two 
substances — one depends on the other. The well- 
being of the body influences the well-being of the 
Soul. The motion of the body depends upon the 
presence and influence of the Soul, and the dis- 
solution of the body occasions not the dissolution 
of the Soul, but the destruction of the compound, 
or the separation of the Soul from the body. The 
Soul is recognised by the nature of its operations, 
which are sensitive and intellectual. The sensi- 
tive consist in the five senses : taste, sight, hear- 
ing, smell, and touch ; because through these all 
sentiment is derived. The intellectual consists 
in the understanding and will. Understanding is 
the intelligence God has given to guide us. It is 
styled wit, when the understanding invents and 
penetrates; it is called judgment, reason, con- 
science, when it judges and discerns. 

Will is the action by which we choose the 
means to pursue good and fly evil : and as some 
place their happiness in one thing, and some in 
another, their choice constitutes their free will. 
The existence of the soul leads us naturally to the 
conviction of its immortality, which is proved by 



OF MAN. 113 

the general testimony of all nations, and especially 
of the wisest and most learned writers. 

Rousseau has beautifully remarked, that u man 
sees but half during his life-time. The life of the 
soul commences only after the death of the body. 
Death is not the end of life : it is the beginning 
of that which will never end." # 

Again: " If we were immortal, we should be 
miserable. It is hard to die: but it is sweet to 
hope that we will not live forever here, and that 
a better life will terminate the sorrows of the pre- 
sent. Our life is nothing in the eyes of God; it 
should be nothing in our own ; and when we quit 
our body, we only lay aside a troublesome gar- 
ment 

" I enquire what rank I occupy in the order of 
things which God ordains, and I find myself, in- 
contestable, in the first by my species. It is, then, 
true that man is the King of the earth which he 
inhabits ; for he not only holds in subjection all 
animals, not only disposes of the elements by his 
industry, but he alone knows how to dispose of 
them on earth. He, moreover, appropriates to 
himself by contemplation, the Stars which he 
cannot approach. Shew me another animal, that 
knows how to make use of fire, or to admire the 

* Emile* 
11* 



114 OF MAN. 

Sun. What ! I can observe, contemplate the 
universe, rise up to the hand that governs it ; I 
can love good and do it, and would I compare 
myself to the beasts ! Abject soul ! it is fatal Phi- 
losophy that renders you like to itself: — or rather, 
in vain do you seek to debase yourself. Your 
genius gives testimony against your principles ; 
your benevolent heart gives the lie to your doc- 
trine ; the very abuse of your faculties proves 
their excellence, in spite of yourself. After God, 
I can see nothing better than my species. I adore 
the Supreme Power, and my heart melts at the 
thought of his goodness. In meditating on the 
nature of man, I discover in it two distinctive 
principles, of which one soars to the study of 
eternal truths, to the love of justice, and of moral 
beauty — to the regions of the intellectual world, 
the contemplation of w T hich constitutes the happi- 
ness of the sage ; — and the other basely tends in- 
wardly to self, is subject to the dominion of the 
senses, to the passions which are their ministers, 
and opposes all that is inspired by the sentiments 
of the former. I say then, man is not one : I will 
and will not — I feel myself, at the same time, a 
freeman and a slave. My worst torment when I 
fall is to feel that I could have resisted." 



OF MAN. 115 

" In comparing our souls with matter," writes 
Buffon, " we find a difference so great, an oppo- 
sition so marked, that we cannot, for an instant, 
doubt they are of a nature totally different, and of 
an order infinitely superior."* 

The same sentiment, arrayed in sweet versifi- 
cation, breathes through the soliloquy of Lamar- 
tine : 

" My soul, above thyself arise — 

And prove thy steady faith : 
Let not the impious when thy end he eyes 
Have room to say : like me, he shrinks from death 

How cheering to the thinking soul, how bright, 

When floating, in immensity 
'Twixt hope and doubt, obscurity and light, 

To see before her shine incessantly, 

Immortal vistas — like a constant star 

Shedding its radiance through the clouds afar, 
Disclosing two shores in the view sublime 
White with the foam of time !" 

Who would, then, be willing to forego the con- 
soling and ennobling belief of a future life ? Who 
would not rather say with Montesq,uieu : " If the 
immortality of the soul were an error, I should be 
sorry not to believe it. I acknowledge I am not 
as humble as the Atheists. I am charmed to be- 
lieve myself immortal, like God himself."! 

* Hist. nat. de V Homme. t Pens. dii> 



116 OF MAN. 

" Without the thought of another life," writes 
Voltaire, " we would abandon ourselves to all 
our fatal passions, and live like brutes ; having no 
law but our appetites and no restraint but the fear 
of other men, rendered eternally the enemies of 
one another by that natural dread. For we al- 
ways wish to destroy what we fear. Think well, 
reflect seriously on the subject. Of what avail 
would be the idea of a God without power over 
me ? This would be as if one were to say : there 
is an emperor of China who is very powerful. 
I answer, much good may it do him: let him 
remain in his abode, and I in mine. He has 
no more jurisdiction over me, than a canon of 
Windsor has over our own parliament. Thus, I 
am my God for myself, I sacrifice the whole 
world to my caprices, and I find occasion enough. 
I am without law, I look only to myself. If other 
beings are sheep, I make myself a wolf; if they 
are chickens, I am a fox. What should surprise 
us is that a dogma so salutary and curbing, should 
be made the prey of so many horrible crimes by 
men who have so short a time to live, and who find 
themselves straitened between two eternities. 55 * 

* Tome. 58 and 47. 



OF MAN. 117 

Again he sings : 

" There is a God— I am his work confest : 
He stamps his image on the just man's breast ; 
To avenge his cause, his thunders shall be hurled, 
But how ? and at what time ? and in what world ? 
Here Virtue weeps, down-trodden, for a time ; 
And kneeling innocence stoops her neck to crime. 
Here Fortune rules— all things her car attend } 
This world was made for Caesar : let us end 
Our sad and dark imprisonment below ; 
Come let us hurry hence and upward go ! 
Where Heavenly Truth — these shadows chased away— 
Shall, in full radiance, all her light display : 
Truth hidden in these dream-days from our eyes : 
In life we dream : in death from sleep we rise." 

The following address to the French people, by 
Robespierre, may astonish the reader, while it 
adds another powerful testimony in vindication of 
the doctrine now under consideration : " Citizens, 
it is in prosperity that people, as well as indi- 
viduals, should, so to speak, recollect themselves, 
to hearken, in the silence of the passions, to the 
voice of wisdom. The moment when the noise 
of our victories echoes throughout the world, is 
that, in which the legislators of the French Re- 
public should watch, with renewed solicitude, 
over themselves and their country, and establish 
the principles on which the stability and happiness 



118 OF MAN. 

of the Republic should repose. We purpose, to- 
day, to submit to your meditation profound truths 
which involve the welfare of men, and suggest 

measures that naturally flow from them 

. . . The only foundation of civil society is mo- 
rality. Consult the good of your country, and 
the interests of humanity. Every institution, every 
doctrine, that consoles and elevates the heart, 
should be cherished : reject all those that tend to 
degrade and corrupt them. Revive and exalt all 
those generous sentiments and moral ideas which 
some have labored to destroy : bring together, by 
the charms of friendship, and the bond of virtue, 
men whom they have sought to keep apart. Who 
has given you a mission to preach that the Di- 
vinity does not exist ? You who become impas- 
sioned by this arid doctrine, but who warm not 
for your country ? Of what advantage do you find 
it to attempt to persuade men that a blind force 
presides over his destinies, and strike, at random, 
crime and virtue ? that his soul is but a thin breath 
which vanishes at the mouth of the tomb ? 

" Would the idea of annihilation inspire him 
with sentiments more pure, or more elevated than 
that of immortality ? Would it inspire him with 
greater respect for his fellow-beings and himself? 
More devotion to his country? More daring in 



OF MAN. 119 

braving tyranny ? More contempt of death and 
pleasure? You who deplore a virtuous friend, 
who love to think that the nobler part of himself 
escapes forever at death : you who mourn over 
the bier of a daughter or a wife, are you consoled 
by him who tells you there is nothing beyond the 
dust of the grave? The unhappy man who ex- 
pires under the blow of an assassin, sends up his 
last sigh as an appeal to the Eternal Justice. In- 
nocence on the scaffold makes the tyrant turn 
pale on his car of triumph. Would it have this 
power, did the tomb cover alike the oppressor 
and the oppressed ? Wretched sophist! What 
right have you to wrest from innocence the scep- 
tre of reason, to place it in the hands of crime, to 
cast a funeral shroud over nature, to reduce the 
unfortunate to despair, to make vice glad, and vir- 
tue sad, and degrade humanity ? The more a man 
is endowed with sensibility and genius, the more 
importance he attaches to thoughts that enlarge 
his being, and elevate his heart : and the doctrine 
of men of this stamp becomes that of the Universe. 
And why should not these thoughts be truths ? 
For myself, I cannot see why nature could suggest 
to man fictions more useful than all realities. And 
if the existence of God, if the immortality of the 
soul be dreams, they would, nevertheless, be the 



120 OF MAN. 

most splendid conceptions of the human mind. . . 

The idea of a Supreme Being, and the 

immortality of the soul, are a continual appeal to 
justice : it is then, social, and republican." This 
sentence was applauded by the multitude to whom 
it was addressed. 

" Man," writes Buffon, " is not more reasona- 
ble or more spiritual for having made great use of 
his eyes and ears. We do not find that men whose 
senses are more obtuse, whose sight is short, whose 
hearinghard, whose smell insensible, have less mind 
than others. An evident proof that there is in man 
something more than ihe interior animal sense." 

I will conclude this subject with the following 
verses of Marmontel : 

" Man leaves his lifeless ashes in the clod : 
But his undying soul — that breath of God — 
Like to the vapor which the clouds dispel 
Shall it for ever bid this life farewell? 
Shall I believe in that Lethean wave 
Which to Oblivion sweeps and to the Grave 
The memory of all things — and deprives 
The Just man of due eulogy, and gives 
The wicked to oblivion ? — far from me 
This hope of dark annihilation be — 
This cloud which wraps all glory in its gloom, 
And quenches Hope's bright flambeau in the tomb. 
If Death should sever all life's links, what worth 
Would glory be, beyond the present earth 



OF MAN. 121 

Of what avail that longing of the heart 

For future memory ? Why do tyrants start 

With horror at the thought — that in the dust 

Their deeds shall sleep not, in opprobrium just ? 

Why should the hero brave and smile at death 

If all his glory vanish with his breath ? 

No; man survives with glory or with shame : 

Turenne has left a bright undying name ; 

Conde the voice of Bossuet from the spheres 

Of Heaven — that voice sublime and tender — hears : 

And when a people, with his homage charmed, 

Fancied they saw that hero breathing, armed, 

Spring from the tomb — was this a prestige vain ? 

Did not his shadow rise to earth again ? 

Did not he break the mausoleum, stand, 

And move, among the people, good and grand ? 

From every heart I hear a voice resound — 

There is a feeling general, profound, 

Which, in all regions, and in every age, 

Inflames the hero, and consoles the sage. 

Ungrateful to them has their country been ? 

Or have they times of persecution seen ? 

Upon their minds the future sheds its ray : 

This Socrates beheld e'en on that day, 

When in his hand he took the poisoned cup : 

This Cato saw when calmly yielding up 

His soul magnanimous. — This soothed thy heart, 

When bleeding under envy's poisoned dart, 

Sublime Columbus ! And when death drew nigh 

Assured thee of a fame that cannot die. 

Before a dread tribunal shall be borne 

Those chains injurious which thy hands have worn, 

And though thy body in the tomb be laid 

Thy soul for all posterity was made." 

Ua 



CHAPTER XII. 

OF WOMAN THE SERPENT— THE FALL ORIGINAL 

SIN BAPTISM. 

Man was not destined to inhabit, alone, the 
world which was created for his use. There was 
to be formed from his rib, another being, like to 
himself, but of more tender texture, and gentler 
disposition. This was woman, his companion, his 
spouse, his better half. From this pair, placed 
together in the garden of Paradise, and afterwards 
expelled, in consequence of their sin, from its 
happy bowers, have been generated all the human 
beings who have peopled the universe. 

"Science, without the light of the Mosaic re- 
velation," w r rites Marcel de Serres, " must 
conclude from its researches : that man was not 
placed on the earth simultaneously under various 
points of view, but under one, from which he has 
radiated, to people, successively, the totality of 
the globe, the whole extent of which his descen- 
dants rapidly embraced ; and that Asia seems to 
have been the primitive part, and the original 
cradle of the human race." 



OF WOMAN THE SERPENT, &C. 123 

The newly-created pair, stamped with God's 
own image, were endowed with free will : and 
could submit or not to the commands of their 
Creator, as they desired. They might have ab- 
stained from the forbidden fruit, and, in that case, 
would have been immortal. But the fallen Angels 
envied the prerogative of immortality : and the 
chief among them, Lucifer, under the form of a 
serpent, charmed the ear of the woman with the 
fascination of his promises, her eye with the 
beauty of the apple, and her heart and mind 
with the promise of being raised to an equality 
with God himself. She disobeyed her Maker, 
stretched out her hand, plucked that fatal fruit 
which contained the seeds of death, and divided 
it with Adam. The most fatal consequences fol- 
lowed : all was changed for them. The earth 
lost its fecundity, the delights of Eden withered 
on the spot — They were driven from their abode 
of innocence and pleasure, and condemned to toil, 
to sweat, and to die. If Moses, in his narrative, 
speaks of the serpent only, and not of the evil 
spirit who acted under the guise of that reptile, 
it was, according to St. Augustine, St. Gregory, 
and St. Thomas, because he apprehended that 
he might have given occasion to the Jewish 
people, who were too prone to idolatry, to be led 



124 OF WOMAN THE SERPENT 

into some superstitious notions and errors on the 
subject. 

Singular and wonderful as is the history of the 
Serpent, to call it in doubt, it would be necessary 
to demonstrate: first, that a spiritual being, the 
Demon, possessing a power of vast extent, could 
not cause the organs of a Serpent so to move, as 
to produce articulate sounds; whilst another spi- 
ritual being, our soul, inferior in power, makes 
use, with marvellous facility, of the portion of 
matter with which it is united, to articulate 
sounds, and effect a sensible commerce with the 
beings by whom it is surrounded. Secondly, re- 
specting the malediction issued against the Ser- 
pent in these words: 1st. Thou shalt creep upon 
thy belly. To deny this, it would be requisite to 
prove, at least, that the Serpent crept as it now 
does, from the beginning. But, that never can be 
proved, because there exists, at this day, Serpents 
that fly; and because it never can be ascertained 
what species the Devil made use of, and which 
has incurred the malediction. 2d. Thou shall 
eat dust all the days of thy life. To deny this 
second part of the malediction, it would be ne- 
cessary to prove again, that before man's sin, 
every species of Serpents eat dust, or, that since, 
there is no kind of Serpent that feeds on it now. 



THE FALL ORIGINAL SIN BAPTISM. 125 

Science discards each of these pretensions. The 
term, eat dust, may likewise be understood in the 
language of Scripture, as Bergier remarks, in the 
sense that the Serpent creeping after his food, 
obtains that which is ordinarily mixed with earth 
or dust. Besides we may observe with good 
commentators, that before Adam's fall, the Ser- 
pent did creep and eat dust, but these habits 
which w r ere natural have since become a punish- 
ment; for this manner of living renders it odious 
and contemptible, in so much that men look upon 
it with disgust. It is man whom God meant to 
instruct in condemning the Serpent. Thus, to 
carry wood and w T ater for the sacrifice was an 
honorable thing: and yet it was a punishment in- 
flicted on the Gabaonites, which incessantly re- 
called their guilty cunning, and rendered them 
despicable. 3d. / will put enmity between thee and 
the woman, between thy race and her's. To deny 
this third part of the curse, it would be necessary 
to prove: 1st. that there does not exist among all 
nations a sentiment of horror for the Serpent : and 
if from some people it received adoration, that it 
was not paid as to a malign and fatal being, the 
enemy of man. Now, the contrary is the fact. 
2d. That the seed of the woman, that is, Christ 
our Lord, has not bruised the head of the Ser 
11* 



126 OF WOMAN THE SERPENT- — 

pent, by overturning the altars and temples reared 
in its honor, and that he does not continue to 
overturn them. 3d. That the Serpent does not 
lie in wait for her heel; that is to say, that the 
Devil did not unchain against the holy humanity 
of Christ, on the day of his passion, all the pow- 
ers of darkness, employ every art and device to 
bring about his death, and does not yet attack it 
in the person of his ministers, &c. Now, this 
victory of the woman's Son over the Serpent, and 
this his warfare against that Son, are as evident 
as noon-day : and as this last part of the maledic- 
tion is accomplished, let us conclude that the 
other parts must, likewise, be fulfilled.* 

The classic muse of Boileau sings in the 
following lines, the fall of Adam, and its conse- 
quences : 

" Ere that dark day that doomed his race to wo, 
There was no pleasure which he did not know. 
In order, then, his hunger to assuage, 
It was not necessary war to wage 
Against the animals : nor was there neecl 
Of the slow ox, and plough-share, for the seed : 
Then did the vine its grapes spontaneous yield, 
And streams of milk meandered over the field. 
But from the day, when from his lofty state 
Unhappy Adam fell — grief was his fate. 

* See Catech. de perseverance, T. v, p. 942. 



THE FALL ORIGINAL SIN BAPTISM. 127 

Incessant labor must compel the earth 
To give its avaricious harvests birth. 
Then o'er the field sprang up the prickly brake, 
And in the forests hissed the poisonous snake. 
Upon the plains its fires the dog-star pours, 
The furious north-wind on the mountain roars ; 
The sheep to screen them from the winter's cold, 
Must shivering seek a cover in their fold : 
And famine* pestilence, and war combined, 
League to lay waste and ruin human kind." 

Yes, in effect, Adam's sin plunged the human 
race into fatal misery. To joys and content- 
ment, succeeded pains, sorrows, remorse. Here 
the voice of scepticism cries cruelty! injustice! 
Rash man ! acknowledge the wandering of thy 
reason. Where is, then, the cruelty and injustice ? 
Why, when the heart is affected, does the entire 
body suffer? If the blood, after passing through 
the heart, carries to the very extremities the poi- 
son with which it is infected, can the members 
complain, and say to the heart: why dost thou 
diffuse through us, with the principle of life, the 
germs of corruption and death ? In the physical 
order, we see that the vicious stream of the pa- 
rent's blood descends to their children, and propa- 
gates among generations disease and shame. Even 
the defects of character; the imbecilities of the 
mind, and evil inclinations of the will are often 



128 OF WOMAN — -THE SERPENT 

bequeathed to posterity — a fatal heritage. The 
laws of nature being constant, why should they 
not have had their effect in the beginning, as at 
present ? To ask why we partake of the mise- 
ries of humanity, is to ask why we are the chil- 
dren of our fathers, the descendants of our first 
parents: to enquire why effects are traced to their 
causes, why consequences are the deductions from 
their premises. Both the material and spiritual 
world are forced, therefore, to render homage to 
the dogma of Original Sin. 

Death, labor, sorrow, sickness, the dominion 
which man has a right to exercise over woman, — 
these are the consequences of Original Sin. But 
God, in his infinite mercy, cheered and supported 
the guilty spirit, and wretched condition of our 
first parents, with the hope of future happiness, 
and pardon through the merits of Jesus, the pro- 
mised Messiah, in whom they and their posterity 
were commanded to believe and trust, in order to 
be saved. Woman was consoled with the pros- 
pect of maternity, adorned with gentleness, and 
endowed with graces, which captivate man, and 
soften in him the empire of his authority. 

The punishment of original sin in the other life 
is the privation of the intuitive vision of God. 
That sin must, then, be washed away, ere the 



THE FALL ORIGINAL SIN BAPTISM. 



129 



soul can attain the mansions of bliss. Hence the 
institution of the Sacrament of baptism in the 
New Law. 

Some similar rite of lustration was practised 
among most nations. By the Romans it was 
styled Lustricus, from the lustral water used for 
the purification of the new-born. Among the 
Persians, it also prevailed : and Voltaire justly 
remarks, " that it was common to all the ancient 
nations." " The fall of degenerate man," he adds, 
" is the foundation of the theology of all those 
nations." 








CHAPTER XIII. 

FREE WILL ENDLESS PUNISHMENT. 

When God moulded the first man out of the 
clay, and breathed a soul into his nostrils, He con- 
ferred upon him the faculty, the power, of acting 
according to his free will. Our own intimate 
sense, the voice of reason, the evidence of reve- 
lation, and the unerring authority of the Church, 
give testimony of the liberty of the human will. 
In so much, that no man, " except him who has 
lost his reason,' 5 in the language of St. Augustine, 
" can call it in question." And Fenelon adds : 
"Is it not certain that the strange philosophy that 
denies free will in the schools, holds it indisputa- 
ble in the bosom of families, and would be as im- 
placable against individuals who should attempt 
to violate the social virtues of home, as if it had 
maintained this dogma under all circumstances." 

Free will necessarily implies future punish- 
ments. It creates accountability to Him who 
bestowed it. Bayle has well remarked, that the 
innocent man who has been miserable on earth 
cannot be destined for annihilation by the Crea- 
tive Intelligence. Epicurus, if persuaded of an- 



FREE WILL ENDLESS PUNISHMENT. 131 

nihilation, evinced, nevertheless, some inquietude 
concerning what was to come after him. 

Passing over the convictions expressed on this 
subject by the ancient Philosophers, (for instance, 
Plato, Pythagoras, Aristotle, Seneca, &c. &c.,)let 
us consult those of more modern times. 

" I clearly know," writes the Marquis D 5 Ar- 
gens, "that God could not be the author of evil: 
and if He permits it, it must be because it is ne- 
cessary. I do not trouble myself about anything 
farther ; I avow my ignorance. I confess that I 
understand nothing of the mysteries of the woes 
of human kind. But a thing I do not comprehend 
should not cause me to reject (as was the case 
with Spinosa) a thing, the truth of which I evi- 
dently know. One must be a fool to act in this 
manner. 55 * 

" . . . . Take human freedom from the world, 
And reft of life and light the gloomy earth 
Is a black sepulchre, — a tomb immense," 

with great propriety and force sings Auguste 
Barbier. 

And Rousseau: "If man is active or free, he 
acts of himself: all that he does of his free will, 
enters not into the system ordained by Providence, 

* Tom. 2. 



132 FREE WILL ENDLESS PUNISHMENT. 

and cannot be imputed to it. God does not will 
the evil that man does by abusing his liberty ; 
but He does not prevent him from doing it. He 
has made him free that he might not do evil, but 
good, by choice. He has placed him in the con- 
dition to make this good choice, by a proper use 
of his faculties. But He has limited his powers 
in such a manner that the abuse he makes of them 
does not injure the general order. The evil that 
man does falls back upon himself without, in any 
manner, changing the order of the world. To 
murmur because God does not prevent evil, is to 
murmur at that which he has done by the ex- 
cellency of man's nature, that He has attached 
to his actions a morality that ennobles him, and 
that he has given him a right to virtue. We are 
tempted by the passions, and restrained by con- 
science. What more could Divine Providence 
do in our favor? Could He have put a contra- 
diction in our nature, and bestow a reward upon 
him who acts well without having the power of 
acting ill ? What ! to prevent man from being 
wicked should He have given him nothing but 
instinct, and made him a brute ? It is the abuse 
of our faculties that renders us bad and miserable. 
Our troubles, our prosperity, our pains, proceed 
from ourselves. Moral evil is our work, and 



FREE WILL ENDLESS PUNISHMENT. 133 

physical evil would be nothing without our vices, 
which have rendered them sensible."* 

" The free will of man," says Marmontel, 
" has been contested ; reason has been reduced to 
silence, by maintaining, that in him, as well as in 
all nature, every thing is ruled by the law of ma- 
jesty. Nevertheless, every one, even the Fatalist 
himself, does not fail to act with the full persua- 
sion of his freedom, convinced that his will exer- 
cises about him a free influence. All rules of 
conduct, all laws, all personal affection, — esteem 
and contempt, praise and blame, friendship and 
gratitude, resentment and revenge, — all suppose 
the intimate persuasion that man is free, in good 
or evil. These are what are called truths of 
sentiment, truths which are not in the mind, but 
the heart; truths which nature teaches man, &c. r t 

" We know demonstratively," Voltaire af- 
firms, u that God is free ; and that He knows 
every thing. But this pre-knowledge and omni- 
science are equally incomprehensible to us as His 
immensity, His infinite duration past, and His infi- 
nite duration future; as the creation of the uni- 
verse, and all other things which we cannot deny 
or know. The dispute concerning the foreknow- 
ledge of God has caused so much wrangling only 

* Emile f Contes Moraux. 

12 



134 FREE WILL ENDLESS PUNISHMENT. 

on account of our ignorance and presumption. 
What does it cost to say : I know nothing of 
God's attributes, and I am not made to compre- 
hend his essence.' 5 * 
Again : 

" The God who made us, made us not in vain, 
His seal divine has stamped the front of man. 
What He ordains I cannot fail to know, 
He gave me law, and being, here below. 
The harmonies of time and place proclaim — 
To endless ages, God's most holy name." 

And again : 

" All have intelligence, received from Heaven, 
With which the curb of conscience has been given. 
The earliest fruit of dawning reason, when 
First heard and understood, it teaches men ; 
Designed a counterpoise severe to be 
To the heart'3 promptings, subject, yet born free. 
A weapon nature places in our hands 
Which by our high-born love self-interest withstands." 

* Tom. 1, p. 40. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

CREATION OF BRUTES. 

The instinct of Brutes is altogether different 
from the intellect of the human Soul. Yet it 
caunot be material It must, therefore, be a kind 
of middle substance between mind and matter, 
without partaking of one or the other. An imma- 
terial substance, endowed with sensibility, devoid 
of intelligence, incapable of moral action, des- 
tined to experience in the body it inhabits a longer 
or shorter period of misery or happiness, and to 
concur, in some manner, to the general well-being 
of visible nature. What becomes of it after the 
dissolution of the body it animated ; whether it is 
immediately annihilated, or whether it is pre- 
served, after the dissolution of one body to ani- 
mate another similar one, and form another indi- 
vidual animal of the same species, it has not been 
given to us to determine. 

This instinct is more or less perfect according 
to the different species of Brutes. It is suscepti- 
ble of various affections, capable of feeling sensi- 
ble objects, but incapable of shewing their in- 
sensible relations. 



136 CREATION OF BRUTES. 

Intellect examines, judges, analyzes an object ; 
instinct merely feels its presence, and causes it to 
be perceived. 

Instinct has nothing in common with human 
reason. Yet there is in men an instinct which is 
always followed by intelligence, which observes 
and examines, which checks or impels, which 
approves or condemns: whereas among brutes 
instinct is always a blind and necessary power, 
without principle to direct it, without light to 
illumine it, without reason to judge, condemn, or 
approve. 

The instinct of animals causes them sometimes 
to perform wonderful things, which might almost 
lead us to suspect that it is allied to intelligence. 
But it is easy to remark that this intelligence is 
of a subaltern nature, and has no relation with 
that of man. Man perfects his lights, passes from 
one knowledge to another, seizes the connexion 
and proportion of the means to the end, appre- 
hends the relations of things sensible and insensi- 
ble. The beast possesses nothing of this faculty. 

Some Naturalists, and BufFon among others, 
remark, that of all animals the Dog has the most 
importance in the order of nature. 

" The Dog," he remarks, " independently of the 
beauty of his form, the vivacity, force, and sup- 



CREATION OF BRUTES. 137 

pleness of his movements, possesses, by excel- 
lence, all the interior qualities calculated to at- 
tract the attention of men. The dog, in his wild 
state, is ferocious, choleric, and redoubtable to 
all other animals. Butthis ardent and sanguinary- 
nature yields, in the domesticated dog, to senti- 
ments the most gentle and to the pleasure of win- 
ing our attachment. He comes crouching at the 
feet of his master, and there lays aside his native 
independence, courage, energy, and dispositions. 
He awaits his orders, consults him, supplicates 
him. A glance of the eye is sufficient ; he under- 
stands the signal of his will. Without having, 
like man, the light of thought, he has all the 
warmth of sentiment, he has more fidelity and 
more constancy in his affections ; no ambition, no 
desire of revenge, no interest, no fear but that of 
displeasing him. He is all zeal,* all ardor, all 

obedience • 

" More docile than man, more supple than any- 
other animal, the dog not only is instructed in a 
short time, but conforms to the manners, move- 
ments, and habits of those who command him. 
He takes the tone of the house he inhabits. Like 
other domestics, he is disdainful when among 
the great, and rustic with the peasant. In the 
school of the Religious of Mount St. Bernard, 
12* 



138 CREATION OF BRUTES. 

like them he becomes hospitable. Always eager 
about his masters, and obliging to their friends, 
he is himself the born friend of the traveller. He 
runs before him, caresses him, entices him on, 
but pays no attention to indifferent persons, and 
goes so far as to declare openly against those who, 
by their condition, are made only to importune. 
He knows them by their dress, their voice, their 
gestures, and prevents them from approaching. 
His actions, his movements, are those of an ani- 
mal whose instinct is elevated to the highest de- 
gree to which the Creator permits it to attain ; to 

an intelligence which is not that of man 

The eyes of the Alpine dog express the desire to 

anticipate the thought of man If the dog 

did not exist, how could man have conquered, 
tamed, and reduced to servitude the other ani- 
mals ? How could he now discover, pursue, and 
destroy wild and pernicious beasts? ... It was 
necessary first to gain over the dog. The first 
art of man has been the training of this powerful 
auxiliary, and the fruit of this art is the conquest 
and peaceable possession of the earth. Faithful 
to man, the dog will always hold a part of the 
empire over the other animals. He commands 
them himself. He reigns at the head of a flock 
of sheep, he makes himself better understood than 



CREATION OF BRUTES. 139 

the shepherd. Safety, order, and discipline are 
the fruits of his vigilance and activity. It is a 
people that is subject to him, whom he guides, 
protects ; and against whom, if be were not badly 
trained by an ignorant and cruel subaltern guar- 
dian, he would never employ force but to main- 
tain peace." 

That the instinct of animals differs from human 
reason, Hobbes bears testimony in these terms : 
"The latter, always perfectible, advances by in- 
finite progress: the other, rapidly formed, soon 
receives its entire perfection. Reason leads us 
gradually towards its object; instinct rushes at it 
and grasps it. Among animals, every species 
attains, in a few days, the term assigned for it. 
Its measure of good is soon filled up, and its be- 
ing completed pauses forever at the same point. 
Ages have added nothing to their knowledge: 
they only repeat the same actions, and neither the 
sphere of their desires nor that of their enjoy- 
ments, ever grows wider. Man, should he en- 
dure as long as the sun, will always go on learn- 
ing some new truth, and will die thirsting for 
science." 

Flourens, a modern member of the Academy, 
affirms that " in animals there are two forces : a 
kind of intelligence, that is to say a force which 



140 CREATION OF BRUTES, 

instructs and modifies, and a blind and mechanical 
force, which is instinct."* 

If we believe Descartes, animals have no 
ideas ; and consequently cannot reason. But facts 
contradict this theory. For when a dog sleeps 
and barks while asleep, it proves that he has sen- 
sations, and that these sensations awaken ideas in 
his mind. The idea of the partridge that flew 
from the hare that pounced at her, troubles her 
sleep. It may be said that these ideas are mate- 
rial, that they proceed not from metaphysical 
principles. But I should like to know how an 
idea can be material. u The Elephant," writes 
Buffon, "approaches man in intelligence as 
nearly as matter may approach mind" But 
Locke is of a different opinion: while he per- 
ceives an essential difference between man and 
the beast, he affirms that beasts reason, and rea- 
son upon particular ideas, but in a limited way, not 
having the faculty of understanding abstractions. 

u This opinion of Locke is very probable, 55 
adds Flourens ; and he concludes a very learned 
and interesting work on this subject in these 
words : " Man, white in Europe, black in Africa, 
yellow in Asia, and red in America, is but the 
same man tinged with the color of the climate. 
Man is one. 55 

* Hist, des trav. et des idees de Buffon. 



CHAPTER XV. 

CHILDREN OF ADAM AND EVE THE DELUGE. 

The first born of Adam and Eve was Cain, 
whose name signifies possession; the second Abel 
or vanity. Both were taught to worship their 
Creator, and offer Him sacrifice. Their history- 
is too well known to be here repeated. Cain 
was the image of the Jews immolating Christ on 
the cross ; Abel the type of the Redeemer, dying 
for the salvation of mankind. 

The third son was named Seth, or re-placed, a 
man of peace and piety, but whose posterity, by 
coming in contact with the descendants of Cain, 
became perverted. Out of their unnatural inter- 
course sprang the Giants of the earth, not so fa- 
mous for their great stature, as for the enormity 
of their crimes. 

The fourth son was styled Enos, or religious, 
who devoted his life to the perfecting the morals 
of his brethren, established public worship, drew 
the distinction between clean and unclean animals, 
and laid the foundation of the Jewish law. 

Enos had a son named Cainan, or lamentation; 
Cainan begat Malaleel, or praise to God. From 



142 CHILDREN OF ADAM AND EVE 

Malaleel sprang Jared, or governing, and from 
him Henoch, or dedication, a faithful observer of 
the laws of God. Down to the moment when 
Henoch disappeared from the world, the morals 
of the descendants of Seth continued to be pure: 
and they were styled the children of God. 

" The Bible," remarks Chateaubriand, " is 
not only the real history of ancient days, but, 
likewise, a figure of modern times. Each fact is 
double, and contains in itself an historical truth, 
and a mystery." And the Abbe Genoude: " In the 
scripture all is animation — everything speaks — 
has a voice. God, who inspires the Prophets, 
sheds before their eyes a light wherewith they 
see the movements and life of the universe. Ges- 
ner has written a celebrated poem on the death 
of Abel, which contains many graceful traits of 
pastoral life : . . . . but it falls far short of the 
model from which he copied it." 

When the iniquities of men overspread the face 
of the earth, and God was forgotten by his un- 
grateful creatures, He resolved to avenge His ma- 
jesty, and punish their wickedness in the most 
signal manner. Accordingly He let loose the 
cataracts of Heaven, and destroyed, with the ex- 
ception of Noah and his family, the whole human 
race, by the deluge. 



THE DELUGE. 143 

That the deluge was universal is admitted by all 
nations: the Persians, Chinese, Arabians, Turks, 
Moguls, Babylonians, and Africans. 

This fact is admitted and believed by the most 
learned geologists, among whom stands pre-emi- 
nent the immortal Cuvier. # 

With regard to the longevity of the antedilu- 
vian race, it cannot be denied. The fact rests 
on testimony too strong to be shaken. The first 
is that of Moses. Now putting aside the inspi- 
ration and gravity of such a witness, he is, never- 
theless, universally acknowledged to be the most 
ancient historian, and consequently of greater 
weight than all posterior historians, whose nega- 
tive testimony is not sufficient to counterbalance 
his. 

The second testimony is that of pagan writers. 
Homer complains that the life of mortals, in his 
day, had grown much shorter than it had formerly 
been. Josephus cites Hesiod, Hecateus, Hell- 
anicus, Arcesilaus, Ephorus, and Nicholas of Da- 
mascus, to prove that the first men lived many 
centuries. The same conviction is found among 
the Egyptians, Indians, and Chinese.f 

* Consult his Discours sur les revolutions de la surface du 
Globe, and the Nouveau Traite des Sciences Geologiques, by 
Jehan, &c. &.c. f See Desdouits 3. Soiree de Monthery. 



144 THE DELUGE. 

The tradition of the deluge is preserved, as 
was remarked above, by all nations, and is re- 
corded in the most ancient writings that are 
known. The Cosmogonic poems of India, Per- 
sia, China and Scandinavia mention it. The my- 
thological records of Rome and Greece perpetu- 
ate the memory of it. We read in the Metamor- 
phoses of Ovid the history of the creation and 
deluge, such as the Romans had received from 
the Greeks. And the Abbe Genoude has justly 
remarked, " If you compare this history, filled 
with all the ornaments with which profane genius 
decorates it, with the simple and majestic recital 
of Genesis, you will see the lustre of pagan poesy 
fade away before the divine rays that illuminate 
the Prophets." 

I will finish this topic with the following decla- 
ration of Cuvier: " On examining what is pass- 
ing on the surface of the globe, since it was made 
dry for the first time, and the continents that 
have taken their actual forms, or at least in their 
more elevated parts, we see clearly that this last 
revolution, and consequently the establishment of 
our actual societies, cannot be very ancient. This 
is one of the results, at the same time the best 
proved and the best attended to, of sound geology. 
A result the more precious, because it unites, by an 
uninterrupted chain, both natural and civil history." 



CHAPTER XVI. 

TOWER OF BABEL IDOLATRY ORIGIN OF KINGS. 

The descendants of Noe (who had three sons, 
Sem, Cham, and Japhet,) increased to such an 
extent in a few years, that it became necessary 
for them to separate, and scatter themselves over 
all the earth. But before their separation they 
agreed to build a city (Babylon,) and erect a 
tower, the top of which should reach to the 
clouds. Their object was to render their name 
famous, and perhaps to prepare a refuge in case 
of another deluge. But the fate of this design is 
well known. The tower was styled Babel, or 
confusion, in consequence of the confusion of 
tongues which followed its destruction. From 
this period dates the formation of the various lan- 
guages : Chaldaic, Syriac, Arabic, &c. &c. 

Men, when they separated, carried with them 
the remembrance of past events, and the principal 
truths which God had revealed. But ere long 
they forgot them all ; gave themselves up to 
abominable excesses, and, forsaking the worship 
of the Lord of the universe, adored the sun, 
13 



146 TOWER OF BABEL — 

moon, stars, animals, and imaginary beings. 
Hence Boileau: 

"Art fashioned gods of silver, gold, and brass, 
The artisan himself prostrate, alas ! 
Before the metal which his hands had made 
For wisdom there, and health, and fortune prayed. 
The world was filled with gods of every kind : 
Then was the race who drank the Nile so blind 
That serpents, fishes, monsters, they adored, 
To dogs and cats gave sacrifice, implored 
Garlic, and onion : which as gods they feared, 
Though from the fumes of their own gardens reared."* 

In descending, by tradition, from father to son, 
the history of the deluge degenerated into a fable. 
Noe was transformed into Saturn, and his three 
sons were named Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto, 
among whom the empire of the world was divided 
by their father. Because Noe had been rescued 
from the universal deluge with his family, Saturn 
was symbolised by a ship, and he and Rhea, his 
wife, were said to have been born of Oceanus and 
the goddess of the sea, named Thetis. Because 
the Patriarch had seen the two worlds — the ante- 
diluvian and the renovated — Janus was imagined 
with two faces, the one of an old man, the other 
of a young. And as he discovered the use of the 

* Sat. xii. 



IDOLATRY ORIGIN OF KINGS. 147 

grape, with the juice of which he became inebri- 
ated, a Deity of intoxication was invented under 
the name of Bacchus. 

Down to the deluge, no individual attempted to 
invest himself with sovereign power. Each one 
lived peacefully, and governed his own family. 
All authority was then paternal, and did not ex- 
tend beyond the limits of the fire-side. After the 
deluge, men became jealous of one another, unjust, 
and agitated by discord. They who were most 
distinguished for moderation were selected as 
arbiters in cases of dispute, and by their decision 
the disagreeing parties were willing to abide. 
Their judgment was held sacred, in the absence of 
laws, and to them the people were taught to look 
as exercising a sway, which in process of time 
extended wider and wider, and became more and 
more consolidated, until they began as it were to 
reign ; and such was the origin of Kings. 

Japhet peopled the northern parts of Asia, all 
Europe, and a great number of the adjacent is- 
lands. Chanaan, the son of Cham, took posses- 
sion of Palestine, afterwards the promised land. 
The rest of the race of Cham occupied Syria, 
Arabia, Egypt, and Africa. Sem remained with 
Noe, in the east, and spread his domination from 
the Euphrates as far as the Indian Ocean. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

ABRAHAM SODOM ISAAC JACOB JOSEPH 

MOSES. 

Thare had three sons: Abraham, Aran, and 
Nakor. Abraham, with his wife Sarah, and his 
nephew Lot, repaired to the land of Chanaan, 
where he raised an altar to the Most High. 
Afterwards Lot returned to Sodom, where he 
was made prisoner by the four Kings of Chordo- 
lahomor, who laid waste that country. Abra- 
ham, at the head of four hundred men, routed 
those marauders and rescued Lot. It was on 
this occasion, that Melchisedeck, the mysterious 
Pontiff-King of Salem, made his appearance, 
blessed Abraham, and offered bread and wine in 
sacrifice to the God of armies. Sodom was re- 
duced to ashes, and over the site on which it 
stood now sleeps the dead sea. 

Isaac was born in a miraculous manner, his 
mother Sarah being at the time of his birth ninety- 
nine years old. The command given to Abraham 
to sacrifice Isaac, and the admirable submission of 
the victim to the will of Heaven, are too well 
known to be here repeated in detail. Suffice it 



ABRAHAM SODOM ISAAC. 149 

to say, that he was a figure of the " well-beloved 
Son" of God who died on a cross for the salva- 
tion of the world. Josephus puts into the mouth 
of Abraham a long soliloquy, when about comply- 
ing with the command of the Eternal. Moses 
makes him observe profound silence, and pre- 
serves it himself. " One," remarks Rollin, 
" wrote as a man and inspired by his own genius ; 
the other was but the instrument, the pen, of the 
Holy Spirit who dictated all his words." And 
Fleury observes, that in the description of this 
sacrifice by Moses, all the important events are 
described as if they were occurring under our 
eyes. " You find in it every thing that touches : 
while the author doe? not admonish you that you 
ought to be touched. This is the historical style 
of Scripture." 

Isaac married Rebecca, and went into Cha- 
naan. This marriage affords us a beautiful model 
of the simplicity of the ancient patriarchal man- 
ners : manners yet to be found m the east, under 
the tents of the wandering tribes of Arabia Pe- 
traea and Lower Syria. Travellers through those 
countries meet with the same hospitality. The 
Arab receives the stranger at his door, introduces 
him into his family, washes his feet, and invokes 
upon him the blessing of heaven. Lamartine and 
13* 



150 ABRAHAM — SODOM ISAAC — 

Chateaubriand have described, with an inexpres- 
sible charm, their pilgrimages through the desert. 

Abraham had seven sons. The two eldest 
were Ismael, born of Agar, and Isaac, born of 
Sarah : this latter had two, Esau and Jacob ; from 
the latter the Messiah was to spring; the de- 
scendants of the former were to form a people 
apart. The twelve sons of Jacob were the heads 
of the twelve tribes of Israel : of which, that of 
Levi was to furnish the Priests of Religion, and 
from that of Juda, Christ the Messiah, was to 
draw his origin. 

Every reader is familiar with the pathetic story 
of Joseph. There is in Homer a circumstance 
which vividly resembles the discovery of Joseph 
to his brethren. Ulysses, concealed in the house 
of Eumea, makes himself known to Telemachus. 
Chateaubriand has seized upon this resemblance 
to institute a comparison between Homer and 
the Bible. 

Sixty-four years after the death of Joseph, 
Khevres, or Pharaoh II, mounted the throne of 
Egypt, and commenced a sanguinary persecution 
against the Hebrew people. Every new-born 
son of that race, he ordered to be thrown into the 
Nile. Among these (but fastened in a basket by 
the humanity of his nurse) was the child who was 



JACOB JOSEPH MOSES. 



151 



rescued by the daughter of the cruel King, and 
received the name of Moses, which signifies saved 
from the water. This infant was destined to break 
asunder the chains which fettered his nation in 
the land of Egypt, and to lead them forth, amid 
signs and wonders, " from the house of bondage." 




CHAPTER XVIII. 

MOUNT SINA THE PROMISED LAND JOB RUTH. 

Religion — that is, the worship of God, was, 
since its origin in the natural law, first publicly 
announced and defined, on Mount Sina, situate 
near the Red Sea. The precepts were engraved 
on twelve stones. Besides which there were 
other laws, relative to the ceremonies of divine 
worship and the conduct of life. The tables and 
book of the law were preserved in a box, called 
the ark of alliance, which was confided to the 
care of Aaron, the Sovereign Pontiff. 

After the publication of religion, the Israelites 
resumed their march, and arrived on the confines 
of the land of Chanaan. Before entering it, a 
deputation of twelve men, representing the twelve 
tribes, was sent to explore it: among whom were 
Caleb, signifying the heart, and Josue, the aid of 
God. All, with the exception of these two, made 
a frightful report to their brethren. They had 
seen giants who were ready to devour them, and 
the new country could not compare with the fer- 
tile plains of Egypt from which they had come. 



MOUNT SINA — THE PROMISED LAND, &C. 153 

Moses prayed for the people, erected the bra- 
zen serpent (emblem of the cross of Christ,) but 
had not the consolation to lead them into the 
promised land : in sight of which he died on 
Mount Abarim. That privilege was bestowed 
by Heaven on Josue. 

The law published on Sina was temporary. 
On the appearance of the Messiah, it was to be 
abrogated. He was to publish another, and Him 
all the people of his day were commanded to hear 
and believe* As long as Josue governed, and 
the ancients lived who had witnessed the power 
of God in their behalf, the people persevered in 
his worship. Afterwards their children degene- 
rated into idolatry ; in punishment of which crime, 
they were made slaves by the neighboring kings, 
as well as by the Mesopatamians, Moabites, Cha- 
naneans, Madianites, Amalecites, Ammonites, and 
Philistines. When Israel repented, God raised 
up men to deliver her from persecution. These 
were the Judges ; who governed from the death 
of Josue to the reign of Saul, the first king. 

The Philistines, having again declared war 
against the Israelites, the contest w r as to be de- 
cided between Goliah and David — the former a 
giant, the latter a shepherd boy. The result is 

*Deut. xviii. 



154 MOUNT SINA — -THE PROMISED LAND 

known. And after the death of Saul, David was 
raised to the throne. Under his victorious sway, 
the empire of Israel extended from the desert to 
Laban, and from the Euphrates as far as the sea. 
His son Absalom, seconded by Architopel, re- 
volted against him, But David conquered, and 
was carried in triumph to Jerusalem. Absalom 
did not go unpunished. For, in the words of 
Duche : # 

"Passing with speed, beneath the fatal oak, 
His hair, whose ornamental tresses long 
Streamed from his head, a woful ornament, 
Caught in the branches tangled : for some time, 
He trusted in his strength — but o'er him fell 
His locks dishevelled, and his body hung 
Suspended in the air : with terror seized, 
His fellow-rebels left him to his fate 
And fled. Meanwhile our chiefs his life to spare 
Ran to his succor : with the rest I ran — 
When Joab in these words accosted me : 
Go bear the happy tidings to the King: 
The Eternal hath accomplished his designs ; 
And Absalom hath perished by these hands." 

Among the descendants of Nachor, the brother 
of Abraham, or of Esau, Isaac's son, was, it is 
generally believed, the patient man of Huss. 
Job's poetry, according to Dr. Blair, is equal, 

* Traged. 



JOB RUTH. 155 

if not superior, to that of the other sacred wri- 
ters. " What simplicity !" exclaims Chateau- 
briand, " what elevation of soul ! what divine 
genius ! Compare with his effusions those of 
Epictetus whose soul naturally vigorous had been 
indurated by stoicism. . . . Admire, as you may, 
the Phrygian philosopher; yet how far is he sur- 
passed by the Idumean, who lived in the infancy 
of the world !" 

The story of Ruth is a touching eclogue. A 
great famine having obliged Elimelech and Noemi 
to leave Bethlehem, their own country, they en- 
tered into that of Moab, and married their two 
sons with two Moabite virgins, Orpha and Ruth. 
Ten years after, Noemi, having lost her husband 
and two children, wished to return to their native 
land, and besought the widows to go back into 
the house of their parents. They protested at 
first, that they would never forsake her. But 
Orpha changed her mind ; while Ruth persisted 
in her resolution. She followed Noemi to Beth- 
lehem, where they arrived at harvest time : and 
as they were poor, Ruth went to reap in the field 
of Booz, who, afterwards, took her as his wife. 
The fruit of this marriage was Obed, the grand- 
father of David. Thus did Ruth, by her fidelity 
and piety, deserve to be the ancestor of the 
Messiah. 



156 MOUNT SINA THE PROMISED LAND, &C. 

"The history of Ruth," says Voltaire, u is 
written with touching simplicity. We know no- 
thing in Homer, Hesiod, or Herodotus, that sinks 
to the heart like the answer of Ruth to Noemi : 
1 1 will go with you, and wherever you will re- 
main, I will remain. Your people shall be my 
people, your God shall be my God ; I will die in 
the land where you will die V " 

And Salgues : " The story of Ruth is the most 
graceful and amiable eclogue in any known lan- 
guage. No where have the details of rural life 
such charms. No where has the genius of men 
attached to them a deeper or more tender inte- 
rest. ... It has been translated into all languages. 
By Thompson in England, and by Florian in 
France. . . . Nothing is more beautiful than this 
story." 




CHAPTER XIX. 

SOLOMON — TOBIAS — DANIEL ESTHER OSEE 

ISAIAH JEREMIAH EZEKIEL JOEL AMOS 

NAHUM HABACUC ZACHARY MALACHY 

THE MACHABEES. 

The beginning of Solomon's reign was most 
glorious. He possessed unprecedented wisdom, 
and unbounded riches. He built, and dedicated, 
with prodigious solemnities, the Temple ; and 
throughout the east his reputation had spread as 
the pride and marvel of his age. 

Polygamy was authorised among the Israelites; 
but they were forbidden to have intercourse with 
strange women. Solomon, until the period of his 
violating this precept, had been a wise and reli- 
gious monarch : after it, his strange wives were 
almost numberless — Egyptians, Moabites, Idu- 
means, and Sidonians. And abandoning the wor- 
ship of his fathers, he erected altars to the god- 
dess of the Sidonians, and the idol of the Ammo- 
nites. After a reign of forty years, he died ; 
whether or not penitent for his apostacy and sins, 
remains a secret known only to the omniscience 
of God. 

14 



158 THE PROPHETS. 

Nothing can be more edifying than the historj 
of Tobias. The Holy Scriptures represent him 
as a personage devoted, from his earliest child- 
hood, to acts of charity. During the captivity of 
Nineveh, his only study was to console the cap- 
tives, and bury the dead. 

" The two Tobiases," writes Dom Calmet, 
" whose lives are contained in this book, afford 
us examples of the rarest and most heroic virtues. 
. . . Nothing is more pure or sublime than their 
morality, nothing more excellent than the maxims 
of their conduct. What more admirable than 
their fidelity to the law of God, in an idolatrous 
country, in the midst of their corrupt and disso- 
lute brethren? . . . The firmness of the elder 
Tobias could never be shaken. His mind was 
always serene, his heart pure, his understanding 
enlightened. His instructions to his son are wor- 
thy of the Gospel. He was endowed with the 
gift of prophecy, by which he foresaw the New 
Jerusalem of which Jesus Christ was to be the 
founder. In the younger, we see a model of the 
new alliance, and in his spouse a figure of the 
Church. . . . 

The canticle of Tobias, one of the finest in 
Scripture, contains two principal parts : the first, 
thanksgiving, in which he invites all the children 



THE PROPHETS. 159 

of Israel to unite ; the second, prophecy, regard- 
ing the chastisement of Jerusalem, and the de- 
struction of that city and of the temple by Na- 
buchodonozor, which did not come to pass until a 
hundred years after. . . ." 

Among the exiles on the " rivers of Babylon," 
the most distinguished was Daniel, whom Ne- 
buchodonozor longed to persuade to bend his 
knees to a newly erected idol. But he remained 
true to his religion, together with his compan- 
ions Ananias, Misael, and Azarias. These were 
thrown into a flaming furnace, but came forth un- 
injured, singing their celebrated canticle : Jill ye 
uorks of the Lord, bless the Lord. 

The famous festival of Balthazzar, during which 
were inscribed on the walls the mysterious Mane 
Theckel, Phares, need not here be described anew. 
It is too well known. After Daniel explained 
their signification, he became a favorite of the 
king: in consequence of which he incurred the 
jealousy of the courtiers, and was cast into the 
lions' den. The ferocious animals, instead of de- 
vouring him, fawned at his feet ; and the king 
acknowledged the power and providence of the 
God of Israel. 

Cyrus, the master of all the east, hearkened to 
the voice of Daniel, renounced idolatry, and re- 



160 THE PROPHETS. 

stored to liberty the Jews, who, under the con- 
duct of Zorobabel, prince of the race of David, 
returned to Jerusalem. And thus ended their 
captivity. 

She whose voice was loudest in appealing to , 
the king in behalf of her persecuted people, was 
Esther. At the feet of Asshuerus, she obtained 
the revocation of the edict against Mardochee, 
and the condign punishment of Aman, the enemy 
of her religion and her nation. 

By his tragedy of Esther, Racine has immor- 
talized his name. "It is," says La Harpe, 
" truly a master-piece. He is a prophet of Israel 
writing in French ; and in a style with which 
nothing in that language can compare." 

In noticing the other prophets from Osee to 
Habacuc, I cannot do better than cite the lan- 
guage of the learned and eloquent Genoude: 
" At the head of the minor prophets," he writes, 
" marches Osee, the most ancient, excepting Jo- 
nas. He is vivid, penetrating, and strongly im- 
pressed with the characters of poetic composi- 
tion. He preserves the brevity and conciseness 
of the sententious style, as St. Jerome has re- 
marked. In reading Osee, we sometimes fancy 
ourselves pouring over the scattered leaves of the 
Sybil." 



TH E PROPHETS. 161 

u I look upon Isaiah as the first of all Lyric 
Poets. Of him may it be said, in the words of 
Pliny : He possesses a lofty spirit both in language 
and thought. He is not excessive, but grand ; 
not disproportioned, but lofty ; not inflated, but 
magnificent and celestial.* 

" His style has all the energy and elevation of 
Moses, all the sweetness and tenderness of David. 
. . . Sublime in his prophecies, he preserves an 
admirable simplicity in the recital of events. His 
historical narratives are distinguished by a certain 
rapidity, which neglects all useless details, and 
dwells on the essential. He relates the most 
startling events without astonishment or emotion. 
... Of his early life few particulars are known. 
He tells us that, on a certain day, when in the 
sanctuary of the temple, his lips w r ere purified 
by a burning coal applied by a seraph's hand. 
He appeared at the court of monarchs only to 
plead for the oppressed. . . . The greatest geni- 
uses of all times have admired the purity of his 
moral and doctrine : and his predictions of the fu- 
ture are of so striking a character, that St. Jerome 
did not hesitate to style him the fifth Evangelist." 

* Inest acer spiritus cum verbis turn rebus, non immodicus, 
sed grandis, non enormis, sed altus, non inanis, sedmagniflcua 
et ccelestis. ■ 

14* 



162 THE PROPHETS. 

Jeremiah stands at the head of elegiac po- 
etry. His lamentations breathe the most affect- 
ing and heart-rending pathos. In them, he mourns 
over the destruction of the temple, the ruin of the 
holy city, and the fall of the empire, in a strain 
becoming so sad a subject. The composition, 
observes Dr. Blair, is full of art. The city re- 
echoes with accents of grief and woe, until, at 
length, all the people unite in the most ardent and 
plaintive supplications. 

" It is easy," adds Treneuil, " to perceive 
the grandeur that reigns in this composition. It 
is all life, or rather in the language of Boileau : 

It has a soul, and body, mind, and face. 

Jerusalem is no longer the city ravaged by 
cruel enemies. She is a tender mother bereaved 
of her children — a desolate widow. Inanimate 
beings participate in her sorrows. The Poet en- 
dows them with sentiment. The very ways that 
lead to her are made to weep and mourn. There 
is nothing in the elegiac style, among the an- 
cients, that can stand any comparison with the 
Lamentations, and above all, the prayer with 
which they end." 

" Ezekiel, like Isaias," writes Micaelis, 
" pushes his descriptions to the last degree of 



THE PROPHETS. 163 

energy. It is impossible for the soul of the rea- 
der not to be penetrated with horror, and that 
kind of horror which is the most powerful effect, 
and the finish, of art." 

The book of Daniel is, as Dr. Lowth remarks, 
u a simple recital, in the ordinary style, of events 
which had already taken place, or were to come 
to pass." When he wrote, the Hebrew language 
had undergone an alteration in Babylon, and lost 
all its poetical beauty. Nor is it surprising, that, 
amid all the calamities of the captivity, the muse 
of Israel had been deprived of leisure, and fell 
short, humanly speaking, of poetic inspiration. 

Joel differs widely from Osee, in style: but 
the character of his period and his elocution is 
not less poetic. His merit consists in elegance, 
clearness, copiousness, vivacity, ardor. He 
spreads before the eye, at first, a picture of 
many miseries, then follows an exhortation to 
repentance, then the promise of temporal and 
spiritual blessings to all who do penance, next 
the re-establishment of the people of Israel, and 
lastly, vengeance upon their enemies. 

Amos, the shepherd-prophet, is said by some 
critics — and among others St. Jerome — to be 
without poetry or eloquence. I think differently. 
He ranks, in my estimation, with the greatest 



164 THE PROPHETS. 

prophets* He is not less sublime in the elevation 
of his thought, than in the grandeur of his genius. 
The same heavenly spirit animated Isaias and 
Daniel in the courts of kings, and David and 
Amos on the fields : making use of the eloquence 
of some, and bestowing it upon others. 

Of all the prophets of the second order, none 
displays the sublimity, ardor, and boldness of 
Nahum. His prophecy forms a regular and com- 
plete poem. The exordium is magnificent, au- 
gust. The preliminaries of the destruction of 
Nineveh, and the developement of the particulars 
of that catastrophe, are painted in the liveliest 
colors, and with admirable clearness and ma- 
jesty. 

Habacuc has much poetry in his style, espe- 
cially in his ode, which may be ranked among the 
most finished compositions of the kind. 

" The book of Zachary," says Bossuet, " may 
be divided into two parts: the first consisting of 
eight chapters, announces, under divers symbols, 
the re-building of the temple, the establishment 
of the government of the High Priests; the abo- 
lition of idolatry, and the fidelity of the Jews to 
the true religion. The second announces more 
distant events, and contains predictions respecting 
the Messiah, which have been evidently fulfilled 



THE PROPHETS. 165 

in Jesus Christ What shall I say of the 

wonderful vision of Zachary, in which he sees 
the shepherd stricken and the flock scattered ? 
What shall I say of the look which the people of 
God cast upon their Lord whom they have pierced, 
and the tears which they shed on account of a 
death more lamentable than that of an only son, 
or of Josias II ? The prophet foresaw all these 
things. But the grandest of his visions was that 
of " the Lord sent by the Lord to inhabit Jerusa- 
lem, where he calls upon the Gentiles to unite 
with his people and dwell in the midst of them." 
The last of the prophets is Malachy. We 
know nothing of his family, or the precise time 
when he flourished. The word Malachy signifies 
my angel, or my deputed, " Knowing that he was 
to be the last of the prophets," writes Genoude, 
u he applied himself particularly to exhort the 
Jews to be attached to their law, and prepare 
themselves for the advent of Jesus Christ, the 
chief of prophets, who was to be announced to 
them by another Elias. # It is thought that Mala- 
chy prophesied after the re-building of the tem- 
ple, towards the end of the* reign of Artaxerxes 
Longimanus, about four hundred and fifty-four 
years before Christ." 

* Chap, iv, v. 5. 



WB THE PROPHETS. 

u The books of the Machabees," remarks 
Salgues, " are of a most noble character, and 
calculated to elevate the heart, and leave on it 
the deepest impressions. In them is presented a 
continual struggle between generous and intrepid 
fidelity, and base and cruel tyranny. We see re- 
ligious heroism of the loftiest and brightest na- 
ture : — a series of tragedies, it may be said, cal- 
culated to aiford the pencil of the poet the most 
pathetic scenes. These books are the last sacred 
monument of the history of the Israelites. After 
thern^ we must have recourse to Josephus." 




CHAPTER XX. 

THE COMING Ot JESUS CHRIST, AND THE ESTAB- 
LISHMENT OF HIS CHURCH. 

At the period of the birth of Christ, idolatry 
had spread over the entire earth. The Jews, al- 
though they had not abjured the worship of the 
God of their fathers, were split, nevertheless, 
into many sects. The Saducees denied the im- 
mortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, 
and consequently, future reward and punishment. 
The Pharisees led very dissolute lives under the 
garb of extraordinary rigor. The Herodians be- 
lieved Herod to be the Messiah. The conviction 
pervaded all civilized nations, that some great 
revolution was to occur, at this epoch, in the 
world, and that Judaea was destined to assume an 
eminent position among the nations of the earth. 
Tacitus affirmed that the time had arrived when 
the east should rule, and from Judaea should go 
forth the masters of the world.* Suetonius, ano- 
ther Roman historian, expressed the same con- 
viction. Virgil proclaimed the return of the 

* Hist. lib. v. 



168 COMING OF JESUS CHRIST, 

golden age, when crime should be diminished, 
and the serpent destroyed.* Cicero announced 
an eternal, universal law; a law for all nations 
and times, and one common master who should 
be God himself, whose reign w r as about com- 
mencing.f 

Voi/ney confesses that the sacred and mytho- 
logical traditions had spread throughout all Asia — 
a dogma perfectly analagous to that of the Jews 
concerning the Messiah. They told of a great 
mediator, of a filial judge, of a future Saviour, 
who, King, God, Conqueror, and Legislator, 
would bring back upon the earth the golden age, 
deliver it from the empire of evil, and establish 
the reign of virtue, peace, and happiness. 

The books of the ancient Testament contain 
an infinite number of predictions regarding Jesus 
Christ: his birth, death, resurrection, ascension ; 
the propagation of His religion, the dispersion of 
the Jews, and the destruction of the temple. 
These books were written ages before the birth 
of the Messiah ; all are fulfilled in the person of 
Christ, and, consequently, prove his divinity, and 
that of his Church. After the descent of the 
Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, on Pentecost-day, 

*Eclog.A. 

t Dz Rep. libi Hi: ap. LactanU Dei. Inst, lib. vi, cap. 8. 



ESTABLISHMENT OF HIS CHURCH. 169 

they began their mission, preaching Christ cruci- 
fied, indeed, but risen from the dead. Ere long, 
the whole world was conquered by the Wood of 
the Cross. The Roman Emperors themselves 
laid their sceptres and crowns at the foot of that 
once ignominious, but now thrice glorious, instru- 
ment of Golgotha. 

" Christianity is said by some visionaries of 
the present day," remarks Ravignan, " to be the 
auspicious accomplishment of civilization. This 
would be only a natural and human fact. It would 
be to deny the sun, at noon-day, and insult the 
consciences of the people. A cross, Peter, James, 
John, and some others — w r atermen, fishermen, 
peasants of Galilee — these were the regenerators 
of the world, whom the prophet announced eight 
centuries before they were charged to illumine 
the nations with the burning rays of their word. 
They speak, those generous soldiers of the cru- 
cified one; their voices resound to the extremities 
of the world. St. Paul astonishes the Areopagus 
in the name of the cross, Simon Peter plants it at 
Rome whence it will extend its branches: and 
Rome will achieve more conquests by that cross, 
than she did by her armies.- 5 

" We see," says Chateaubriand, " from the 
commencement of ages, kings, heroes, remarka- 
15 



170 COMING OF JESUS CHRIST, 

ble men, becoming the gods of a nation. But 
here is the son of a carpenter, in a little corner of 
Judea, a model of grief and misery. He is pub- 
licly scourged : he chooses his disciples from the 
lowest ranks of society, he preaches sacrifices, 
the renunciation of the pomps, pleasures, power 
of the world He overturns the common no- 
tions of morality, establishes new relations among 
men, a new law of nations, new public faith. He, 
moreover, vindicates his divinity, triumphs over 
the religion of the Caesars, sits upon their throne, 
and succeeds in subjugating the earth. No; 
though the voice of the world were raised against 
Jesus Christ, though all the lights of philosophy 
united against his dogmas, yet never should we 
be persuaded, that a religion, founded on such a 

basis, is a human work 

" The most violent enemies of Christ could not 
attack his person. Celsus, Julian, and Volusian, 
acknowledged his miracles : and Porphyry relates 
that the very oracles styled Him a man illustrious 
for piety. Tiberius wished to place him among 
the gods. Adrian reared temples in His honor, 
Alexander Severus revered Him, and placed his 
statue between Orpheus and Abraham. Pliny has 
rendered the highest tribute to the innocence of 
the first Christians, who followed the precepts 
and example of the Redeemer. 



ESTABLISHMENT OF HIS CHURCH. 171 

" His character was amiable, open, and tender ; 
his charity without limits. . . . He went about do- 
ing good. The power of his soul shone forth 
from the torments of the cross, and his last sigh 
was the sigh of mercy." 

Fenelon calls our attention to two palpable 
considerations : the first, that the epoch desig- 
nated by the Jews for the appearance of the 
Messiah is past: that they can no longer compute 
the times, and are bewildered in their calculations, 
like travellers who have lost their way. The 
other, that Jesus Christ bears the impress of the 
Messiah : He has gathered the Gentiles around 
his person. He has formed but one people from 
so many barbarous and idolatrous nations. He 
has broken their idols to pieces : Europe is full 
of Christians : and there is no kingdom in which 
they are not to be found. From the point where 
the sun rises, to where it goes down, — in the two 
hemispheres — Jesus is offered to God, a spotless 
victim, for the remission of the sins of men. 

There are not wanting some philosophers of 
our age, who accept religion merely as an eclectic 
and rationalist system, and as a lever of morali- 
zation for the ignorant people. But they wish it 
to be inert in regard to errors and vices : they 
make it a veritable Utopia ; and if they do not 



172 COMING OF JESUS CHRIST, 

openly declaim against it, they are silent only by 
policy and dissimulation. Bolingbroke was 
compelled to acknowledge, that there is no sys- 
tem so simple and plain as that of religion, as 
found in the Scripture. " It is the true system of 
natural religion, and it would always have been 
of great advantage to the human race, if it had 
always been spread with the simplicity with 
which Jesus preached it. This Christian system 
of faith and practice has been revealed by God 
Himself, and it is equally absurd and impious to 
affirm that the Divine Wisdom has revealed it in 
an incomplete and imperfect manner. Its simpli- 
city and clearness prove that it is intended to be 
the religion of mankind, and, at the same time, 
shew the divinity of its origin." 

Another distinguished writer (Malenj on) has 
well remarked, that " if the religious system — 
moral and political — animated all kings, all na- 
tions would be happy." And Fielding : " The 
Gospel offers to all nations a constitution in one 
single article : love thy neighbor as thyself. The 
propagation of the Gospel has banished barbar- 
ism, and there are those who would extinguish 
the Gospel! One page of the Scripture is more 
powerful, to teach us how to die, than all the 
volumes of philosophers." 



ESTABLISHMENT OP HIS CHURCH. 173 

Hear the sentiments of Rousseau: "Shun 
those who, under pretext of explaining nature, 
sew in the hearts of men the most desolating doc- 
trines; and whose skepticism appears a hundred 
times more positive and dogmatic, than the deci- 
ded tone of their adversaries. Under the haughty- 
pretext of being the only enlightened, sincere, 
and upright men, they would force upon us their 
imperious decisions, and palm upon us as truthful 
principles, the unintelligible systems which they 
have formed in their imaginations. Destroying, 
trampling under foot all that men respect, they 
rob the afflicted of the last solace in misery, take 
from the powerful and rich the only curb to their 
passions ; tear from the depths of the heart all re- 
morse for crime, all the hopes of virtue, and, yet, 
boast of being the benefactors of human kind. . . . 
Happy the man who lives under the holy yoke 
of religion, he will, one day, reign in the King- 
dom of Heaven ! . . . 

" One of the sophisms most familiar to the phi- 
losophistic party, is to contrast a people of good 
philosophers with a people of bad Christians. 
As if it were more easy to form a people of 
true philosophers than of true Christians. I do 
not know whether among individuals one may 
not be as easily found as the other ; but I well 
15* 



174 COMING OF JESUS CHRIST, 

know, that when there is question of a people, 
we must suppose as many who would abuse phi- 
losophy without religion, as now abuse religion 
without philosophy 

" Our modern governments owe, incontestably, 
to Christianity the most solid authority, and less 
frequent and less sanguinary revolutions. This 
is proved by comparing them with the ancient 
governments. Religion, rightly known, dispels 
fanaticism, and gives a sweetness to Christian 
manners. This change is not the work of letters ; 
for, humanity has not been the more respected 
wherever they have flourished. Of this fact, 
Athens, Egypt, imperial Rome, and China bear 
testimony. What works of mercy have been 
produced by the Gospel ? What restitutions does 
it cause to be made among Catholics? How many 
reconciliations and what alms-deeds are the result 
of preparation for Confession and Communion ?" 

With reason and beauty does Chamfort ex- 
claim : 

"Daughter of Heaven, by all the world adored, 
By all men feared, or else by all implored: 
Divine Religion ! shedding from above 
Among the paths of men thy rays of love ; 
That bright and sacred chain to us make known 
Which God's own hand hath fastened to this throne, 
Binding the earth to heaven — and before 
Thy altars balancing the globe " 



ESTABLISHMENT OF HIS CHURCH. 175 

" The most powerful bond," writes D'Alem- 
bert, " to which all Europe owes the species of 
society which has been perpetuated in her mem- 
bers, is Christianity. Contemned from her birth, 
she has served as an asylum for her detractors; 
after they had so cruelly and vainly persecuted 
her. The Roman Empire found in her resources, 
which it had not in its strength : her missions 
were more valuable than her victories. She sent 
her bishops to repair the faults of her generals, 
and. triumphed, by her priests, when her soldiers 
were beaten. It is thus that the Franks, Goths, 
Burgundians, Lombards, and a thousand others, 
recognised the authority of a government which 
they had conquered, and received, at least in ap- 
pearance, with the gospel-law, that of the prince 
who caused it to be announced to them. Some 
pretended philosophers assert that Christianity is 
irksome. By this they acknowledge that they 
are incapable of bearing the yoke of the virtues 
she enforces. . . . And they shut their eyes to the 
manifest benefits which she bestows upon society. 
Her duties exclude those of the citizen, others 
object. This is a calumny, since the first of her 
precepts is to fulfil the obligations of one's state 
of life. She favors despotism, and the arbitrary 
power of princes, insist others. This is a misap- 



176 COMING OF JESUS CHRIST, 

prehension of her spirit, since she declares in the 
most energetic terms, that sovereigns shall be 
judged at God's tribunal more severely than by 
men, and that they shall repay with usury what 
they have enjoyed upon earth. Faith requires 
that Christianity should contradict and humble 
reason, it is again urged. This is to insult expe- 
rience and even reason ; for that yoke cannot be 
humiliating which supports reason, ever vacillat- 
ing and inquiet, when left to itself. What, then, 
will become of the world ? What will become 
of those who are swayed by the sweetness of her 
consolations, the attraction of her hopes, the in- 
estimable compensation she offers the wretched. 
. . . This, especially, in the inequality of condi- 
tions, in the disproportion of fortunes, in the in- 
exact distribution of honors and rewards, that 
this religion evinces the sweetness of her empire, 
and the wisdom of her laws, which temper and 
counteract, as far as possible, all human adversi- 
ties. As the order of society demands subordi- 
nation, dependence, fatigue ; as human corruption 
acts with a general and particular influence, upon 
the affections, upon pains, labors, oppressions, in- 
justices; what man could submit to a distribution 
of sorrows so cruel to nature, without the light 
that shews him how to support the bitterness of 



ESTABLISHMENT OF HIS CHURCH. 177 

his lot, without a counterpoise which represses 
the ebullitions of acute feeling; without a law of 
submission which induces him to accept from 
superhuman motives, everything that can affect 
the pride of his mind, or the sensibilities of his 
heart. Evil, in the eye of a Christian, is but of a 
passing nature. Evil, in the philosopher's estima- 
tion, is but a sting to his malice, a subject of re- 
volt, a motive of injustice and iniquity."* 

MoNTEsauiEU is not less explicit in his admi- 
ration of the Christian Religion : " While the 
Mahommedan chieftains," he writes, " inflicted 
death continually and were put to death them- 
selves, religion, among Christians, rendered 
princes less timid, and consequently less cruel. 
The prince relied on his subjects, and his subjects 
on the prince. Admirable theory ! religion which 
seemed to have in view only the felicity of the 
future life, confers happiness upon us here. She, 
despite the power of the empire and the insa- 
lubrity of the climate, prevented despotism from 
being established in Ethiopia, and has carried 
into the bosom of Africa the manners and laws of 
Europe. Let us place before our eyes, on one 
side, the continual massacres of kings and the 
chief of the Greeks and Romans, and on the other, 

* A Vlmperairice de Rustie. 



178 COMING OF JESUS CHRIST, 

the destruction of people and cities by the chief- 
tains Timar and Geniskan, who devastated Asia, 
and we will find, that we owe to Christianity a 
certain political right, and in war a certain right 
of nations, for which human nature cannot be too 
grateful. True Christians would be citizens infi- 
nitely enlightened respecting their duties, and 
would have an ardent zeal to filfil them ; they 
would feel well the rights of natural defence. 
The more they would believe they owe religion, 
the more would they be convinced they owe their 
country. The principles of Christianity, deeply 
engraven on the heart, would prove infinitely 
stronger than the false honor of monarchs, the 
human virtues of republics, and the servile fear 
of despotical States."* 

Diderot has not hesitated to add his tribute in 
favor of Christianity to that of Montesquieu: 
" The first Christians," he says, "were strangers 
to all violence. They took from the master all the 
rigor of authority, softened slavery, and rendered 
submission voluntary. Their precepts permitting 
only a transient use of the goods of life, recom- 
mended detachment from wealth to the rich, and a 
distribution of it among the poor. Meekness, mo- 
deration, humble modesty, patience, were no less 
* Esprit des Lois. 



ESTABLISHMENT OF HIS CHURCH. 179 

earnestly enforced towards all men. In the pri- 
mitive times, the disciples of this beautiful mo- 
rality observed it with rigid exactitude. Chris- 
tianity, if considered only as a merely human 
institution, was the most perfect. Persecutions 
proved the heroism of those who embraced it. 
Their constancy, and purity of morals, made their 
proselytes."* 5 

Guizot has justly observed, that " two sublime 
powers constitute the happiness of men : religion 
and philosophy : with this difference, that under 
the guidance of religion, we cannot be deceived." 

" Christianity," writes Raynal, " born amidst 
the calamities of the Roman Empire, consoled the 
miserable who took refuge in her bosom. Jesus 
Christ came upon the earth at a period when the 
Romans, formerly the masters of the world, had 
become the slaves of odious tyrants. Persecuted 
by a Tiberius and a Caligula, a Claudius and a 
Nero, they required the sweet hope of another 
life to enable them to bear the trials of this. 
The people who were ground down on earth by 
pitiless masters, looked to heaven for an asylum. 
Religion consoled them, and taught them how to 
suffer." 

* La Code de la Nature. 



180 COMING OP JESUS CHRIST, 

Voltaire contemplating, in his mood of re- 
flection, the beauty and glory of Christianity, 
breaks out into the following strain : 

" What object breaks upon my view ! 
Lo Christ the powerful, the glorious, too ! 

Whilst o'er the cloud, all bright, 
The standard of his death beams on my sight. 
Beneath his feet triumphant Death is trod, 
The gates of hell are opened at his nod : 

The oracles announced his reign, 
His throne is circled by the martyr-train, 

And by their blood cemented ; wheresoe'er 
The saints have left their footprints, miracles appear. 
Greater his promises than their desires, 
His life a pure morality inspires. 
He soothes in secret, and illumes the heart, 
And gives a heavenly balm for ev'ry smart," 

Again he says : " We have seen idolatry dis- 
appear at the moment the Gospel was preached. 
That same light caused all bloody sacrifices, in 
the world, to cease. It corrected our jurispru- 
dence, . . . and abolished slavery. Let it not be 
said that reason would have sufficed to destroy 
those extravagances. Reason did nothing for the 
destruction of idolatry. . . . Consider the happy 
effects of this light of the Gospel, not only inas- 
much as it illumines, but in constituting the happi- 
ness of humanity, and the consolation of mankind. 



ESTABLISHMENT OF HIS CHURCH. 181 

They who have combatted this religion must, at 
least, acknowledge, that it announces truths from 
which results the felicity of the human race. Its 
practice is founded upon indulgence and kindness. 
A God, adored by the heart and mouth, and all 
duties fulfilled, make a temple of the universe, 
and brothers of all men." 

Marmontel writes : " We adore in Jesus 
Christ his holy humanity, indissolubly united to 
his divinity. . . . History has depicted men excel- 
lent for some virtue. Philosophy boasts of some ; 
Eloquence has celebrated some, Poesy has ima- 
gined some : but a character as astonishingly per- 
fect as that of Jesus Christ was never traced, even 
in the most fabulous fiction of the poets. 55 

"The more I contemplate the project conceived, 
undertaken, accomplished by Jesus Christ," re- 
marks Duvoisin, " the more I feel the necessity 
of recognizing something more than human. But 
penetrate more deeply into the conduct and senti- 
ments of that extraordinary man. Read his Gos- 
pels. He there paints himself in his works and 
discourses. There the witnesses of his public 
life, in their simple narrative, have traced, with- 
out, perhaps, perceiving it themselves, a charac- 
ter never to be equalled ; uniting in one personage 
all the lights and virtues which we admire in the 
16 



182 COMING OF JESUS CHRIST, 

wisest and most virtuous men of antiquity. And 
what adds to our astonishment is, that this cha- 
racter so perfect and so singular, that he seems 
placed beyond the sphere of humanity, received 
all his perfection in a very short life ; at an age 
when the sages of antiquity were accustomed to 
enter upon the career of philosophy. He devel- 
opes of a sudden, without having been formed by 
education, by study, by the knowledge of the 
world. In the. bosom of an ignorant and super- 
stitious nation, from the workman and the artisan, 
I see him bursting upon the world as a teacher of 
religion and morality, to whose doctrine the hu- 
man mind has added nothing for eighteen centu- 
ries. There is no virtue of which Jesus has not 
given the precept, and been the model : and he 
alone, among all legislators and teachers of mo- 
rality, instructs better by his example than by his 
discourses. All his words, all his actions breathe 
piety and charity : and a piety and charity until 
then unknown on the earth." 

" If the Apostles were impostors," writes Her- 
mann Janssens, " it would follow, that during 
eighteen centuries, the greatest part of the world 
have been duped by their deceptions : that twelve 
illiterate fishermen have deceived, on the most 
important subjects, the most learned and virtuous 



ESTABLISHMENT OF HIS CHURCH. 183 

men in the Christian ages : that millions of mar- 
tyrs have shed their blood for a false religion, and 
that, by an absurd supposition and inadmissible 
hazard, the prophecies of the ancient testament 
have been adapted, with marvellous exactitude, 
and in all their details, to the Son of Mary 

alone 

" The first who believed in Jesus Christ were 
twelve ignorant fishermen, and an infinite number 
of the populace : but it is false, that all those 
who, in the beginning, embraced Christianity, 
were obscure, gross, and low. Not of that de- 
scription were the centurion of Capharnaum, 
Lazarus, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, Pu- 
dens the senator, Flavius Clemens, the Roman 
consul, Sergius Paulus proconsul, Cornelius the 
centurion, Epaphroditus, Erastus, several princes 
of Asia, many of the first officers of Caesar, with- 
out speaking of a multitude of women of the 
higher classes. Among the learned, were some of 
the priests and heads of the Synagogue : for in- 
stance, Gamaliel and Saul. Also Dionysius the 
Areopagite, Clement of Rome, Ignatius Martyr, 
Polycarp, Papias, Clement of Alexandria, Justin, 
Athenagoras, Hegesippus, Tatian, Irenasus, The- 
ophilus of Antioch, Denys of Corinth, Quadratus, 
Aristides, Meliton, Origen, Tertullian, &c. &c. 



184 



COMING OF JESUS CHRIST, &C. 



"In a word, all the universe has believed the 
miracles of Jesus. But the most astonishing of 
all miracles, or rather a thing impossible, would 
be, that the universe believed them if they are 
false, and has been made the dupe of twelve ob- 
scure and unlettered fishermen." 




CHAPTER XXI. 

DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 

The most ancient author, after the inspired 
penmen, who has written, at some length on the 
circumstances connected with the death of Christ, 
is St. Dionysius the Areopagite. In an epistle to 
Polycarp, the main object of which is to defend 
himself against a charge of his former friend Apol- 
lophanes, viz : that he took an unfair advantage 
of the testimony of pagan writers in favor of 
Christianity, he accounts, in the following terms, 
for the miraculous darkness that covered the 
world. " Apollophanes," he says, "should re- 
member what happened when we were in Egypt 
together. We were both near the city of Helio- 
polis, when, of a sudden, we saw the Moon com- 
ing in juxtaposition with the Sun, although that 
was not the time for such a conjunction, and caused 
a mighty eclipse. And then, about the ninth hour 
of the day, we saw her quitting the place she had 
occupied near the Sun, and resuming her position 
opposite the diameter. . . . This you may tell him. 
And you, Apollophanes, deny it if you dare; I 
16* 



186 DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 

was present with you at that spectacle. And 
transported at the wonder, Apollophanes, ad- 
dressing himself to me, cried out: my dear Dio- 
nysius, a divine change is taking place."* 

In another letter written to Apollophanes him- 
self, after his conversion to Christianity, St. Dio- 
nysius says : " I must remind you of what took 
place at the time we were together at Heliopolis 
in Egypt. I was then twenty-five year^ old : 
you were ahout the same age. We saw, all of a 
sudden, on a Friday about the sixth hour of noon, 
the moon placing herself before the sun, and 
causing an eclipse that filled us with horror. I 
asked you what you thought of that eclipse, and 
your answer shall never be effaced from my mem- 
ory. You observed : these are then, my dear 
Dionysius, the changes of divine things. I marked, 
exactly, the time and year of that prodigy ; and 
having combined all with what Paul afterwards 
told me, I have surrendered myself to the truth to 
which you have, also, so happily conformed."* 

This testimony is confirmed by that of Phle- 
gon, the freedman of the emperor Adrian, and a 
pagan. He wrote the history of the Olympiads 
in sixteen books, from their origin to his time. 
He declares, that on the fourth year of the two 

* Lib. ii. f I n Vil. Dion. ap. Cerdei Tom. ii. 



DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 187 

hundred and second Olympiad (which was about 
the year thirty-three of the Christian era) there 
happened an eclipse of the sun, the greatest that 
was ever seen; the darkness being such, that at 
mid-day the stars appeared in the heavens. He 
adds that it was attended by an earthquake in 
Bythinia, which destroyed a great part of the 
city of Nice."* 

Thallus, a Greek historian, records the same 
fact. At what precise period this Thallus lived, 
I cannot ascertain : but as he is cited by Justin 
and Tertullian, he was probably contemporary 
with Phlegon, if not more ancient. It was to the 
books of these two authors that Tertullian and 
the martyr St. Lucian of Antioch, referred the 
Pagans in proof of the wonderful darkness that 
spread over the world at the death of Jesus 
Christ.f 

The resurrection of Christ was a palpable fact, 
which fell under the senses. But there were 
numberless occasions to verify it. He appeared 
to his disciples, conversed with them, eat with 
them. They could not be deceived in the reality, 
and accordingly, they preached it as the founda- 
tion of religion and the proof of his divinity, to 

* Jp. Euseb. Chronic, pag. 188, ed. Scalig. 
t See Gaume's Cath. pers. vol. iii, p. 178. 



188 DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 

all the nations of the earth. They were not im- 
postors. They had no interest in proclaiming an 
absurd falsehood ; and if they had, they could 
not have forced it upon the world, or effected, by 
virtue of it, so universal and extraordinary a revo- 
lution. Eighteen hundred years have passed 
away, and their work remains. When they be- 
gan their mission, they found the whole world 
prostrate before idols ; minds enthusiastic with 
philosophy ; thrones occupied by superstitious 
and cruel sovereigns who wielded all their tyran- 
nic power in support of the ancient system, and 
notwithstanding all these mighty obstacles, they 
planted the standard of the cross — the banners of 
Christ arisen from the tomb — in every quarter of 
the globe. " The glory of having been the Mes- 
siah, the true Messiah," says Pierre Leroux, 
44 is awarded to Jesus. The effect has been pro- 
duced, the initiation given, and it is He who gave 
it. All ages may come and break themselves at 
the foot of his cross : man will never pass, with- 
out respect, by that gibbet, which has been, dur- 
ing so many ages, the beacon of humanity." 

44 The philosophists," writes Saint Pierre, 
44 reject all sorts of religion except that of egot- 
ism. Religion, in its general acceptation, is a 
bond. . . . Religion changes the most melancholy 



DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 189 

destinies, by the charm of sentiment. The earth 
would be a paradise, if the Christian religion 
were observed." 

" A smattering of philosophy," remarks Bacon, 
" banishes religion : a good deal of philosophy 
brings it back again." This sentiment accords 
with that of Massillon, who said : " There is in 
religion a grandeur and elevation to which low 
and rampant souls can never attain." 

The sublime remark of Napoleon to Count 
Montholon will conclude this subject: "There 
have been but three great captains in this world : 
Alexander, Caesar, and myself. In spite of all 
their exploits, Alexander and Cassar are now but 
a mere theme for school-boys. But who loves 
them now ? So is it with myself: my memory 
will live perhaps fifty or sixty years, in the heart 
of some brave ; and after that no one will love me 
more. One only being is still loved on the earth, 
after eighteen centuries; He is Jesus Christ. 
Montholon, I know something of men, and I tell 
you, Jesus Christ was not a man ! ,? 



CHAPTER XXII. 

DOGMAS AND MIRACLES. 

All the dogmas of religion, comprehensible or 
incomprehensible, are the objects of our faith, and 
we must believe them on the irrefragable autho- 
rity of revelation. By mysteries, we understand 
certain truths, whether eternal or positive, ele- 
vated above the sphere of human intelligence, and 
which must be believed on supernatural motives. 
If pride reclaim against the existence of miracles, 
the eye of wisdom sees them everywhere. — Be- 
cause a thing is incomprehensible it does not fol- 
low that it is absurd. In matters of religion, we 
must examine whether God has revealed the mys- 
terious things she teaches ; and when it is proved 
that God has spoken, man must observe a re- 
spectful silence. 

By miracles, is understood the interruption of 
the laws of nature. When, at the bidding of 
Christ, Lazarus is restored to life, the natural or- 
der of things is changed, and a miracle has been 
performed. " Religious doubts," remarks Mas- 
sillon, " is the ignorance that adopts them with- 
out understanding them ; is the vanity that men 



DOGMAS AND MIRACLES. 191 

pride themselves in, without being able to make 
it a resource." And Bossuet :," Mysteries will 
not frighten the Christian: he understands that 
all nature being incomprehensible to his weak 
mind, he should not be astonished at not being 
able to fathom the secrets of the Divinity. His 
weakness is turned into strength ; his darkness 
into light ; in order to teach him diffidence in 
himself and docility to God." 

The three great mysteries of Christianity are : 
the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Redemption. 
Eighteen hundred years ago, St. John announced, 
that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word 
was with God, and the Word was God, . . . and the 
Word was made flesh. 

Christ is both God and man. As man He died, 
as God-man He arose from the grave. " If Christ 
be not arisen," said St. Paul, " our preaching is 
vain, and our faith vain." 

The Marquess of Argens has justly said : 
" To wish to penetrate mysteries, is a crime, 
which God has punished by the wandering of 
the mind." 

And Bayle : " Reason throws everything into 
confusion. No sooner does it construct a work, 
than it shews reasons why it should be destroyed. 
Reason is a real Penelope, destroying at night 



193 DOGMAS AND MIRACLES. 

the work of the day. Religion need never shrink 
from reason. If, she, sometimes, retires under the 
entrenchments of faith, it is under the auspices of 
reason. Nothing would be more false than to 
imagine that in these cases, reason is given up. 
We do not entrench ourselves in faith, unless by 
the most evident maxims of reason. They who 
admit the Trinity, and the other mysteries of the 
Gospel, do not renounce reason, but, on the con- 
trary, act upon the axioms of philosophy which 
have the highest degree of evidence. They rely 
on the word of God, who cannot deceive or be 
deceived, and whose word must, consequently, 
be believed." 

" What man has ever denied," says Rousseau, 
" that God can work miracles ? He who calls in 
question the power of God to change the estab- 
lished laws, should not be punished, but locked up 
in confinement. Miracles, like prophecies, are 
like letters of credence which God gives to any 

one whom he chooses to send as his deputy 

Such a one must say : Mortals, I announce to you 
the will of the Most High : recognize, in my 
w r orks, Him who sends me. I command the 
winds, and they obey me; the billows of the 
ocean, and they are calmed ; the tombs, and they 
deliver up their prey. . . . Miracles are the most 



DOGMAS AND MIRACLES. 193 

proper and striking means that God can make 
use of to authorize the dogmas He reveals, and 
to engage men to believe them." 

Plato, long before the introduction of Christi- 
anity, had said : " They who admit only what 
they see and understand, are stupid and ignorant 
beings." 

Littleton declared, that "the Jews and Pagans 
could evade the notoriety of Christ's miracles, 
only by attributing them to magic, or the power 
of the devils. Thus, after the Apostles and the 
Evangelists, the most unquestionable witnesses 
of the evidence of their truth are Celsus and Ju- 
lian, and the other ancient adversaries of the 
Christian religion, who, unable either to contra- 
dict or deny the authenticity of the miracles of 
Christ, were reduced to the necessity of imagin- 
ing absurd and ridiculous causes of them." 

The very ancient book entitled Sepher toldos 
Jeschut, written by a Jew against Christ, in the 
first century, does not deny that He performed 
miracles. But let us hear Voltaire : " Miracles 
were necessary for the rising Church ; they are 
not for the Church now established. God being 
among men should act as God. For Him mira- 
cles are ordinary actions. The master of nature 
must always be above nature. The miracles of 
17 



194 DOGMAS AND MIRACLES. 

Jesus Christ and his Apostles are so true, that 
their influence cannot be weakened by associating 
them with false prodigies. Let us admire, revere, 
and celebrate the resurrection of Lazarus, the 
expulsion of devils from the possessed : the won- 
derful change at Cana: the precipitation of the 
evil spirits into the bodies of unclean animals. . . . 
Behold Jesus transfigured on Thabor, manifesting 
his glory to Moses and Elias, who came from the 
regions of the dead to hear his eternal lessons : 
Jesus, the source of life: Jesus, the creator of 
mankind, and the victim for mankind. When He 
expired the dead arose, and filled the streets of 

Jerusalem ; the sun was eclipsed These 

miracles are numerous, well authenticated, and 
recorded by men inspired by God. Every judi- 
cious reader admits them, every good Christian 
adores- them. The miracles of Christ mark His 
power and His goodness : as restoring sight to the 
blind, life to the dead, changing water into wine, 
and delivering the possessed. They are, more- 
over, the symbol of some moral truth. When we 
believe one miracle, we should believe all others, 
when the same book records them. A book, the 
moral of which bears the impress of God him- 
self. .... 



DOGMAS AND MIRACLES. 195 

" The science of philosophy consists in dis- 
tinguishing the point when mysteries commence, 
and its wisdom in respecting them. On whatever 
side you turn your view, you are obliged to ac- 
knowledge two things : your ignorance, and the 
immense power of the Creator, to whom, cer- 
tainly, nothing is impossible. Newton being 
asked why he walked, and how his arms and 
hands obeyed his will, replied nobly, that he did 
not know. But, it was urged, you who are so 
well acquainted with the gravitation of the plan- 
ets, will be able to explain why they move in one 
way rather than another. Again he replied, he 
did not know why. .... 

"Unmerciful derider, pedagogue of phrases, 
unfortunate reasoner, you search for the bounda- 
ries of your wit ; they are at the extremity of 
your nose ! 

" Ignorance is the concomitant of human na- 
ture : I adore God because I think, without know- 
ing how I think. " 



CHAPTER XX11F. 



FAITH. 



Faith, the daughter of Heaven, must have 
issued from the bosom of God. Her torch, emit- 
ing supernatural rays, was kindled at the source 
of Eternal Light. She reveals truths which, 
otherwise, would have been shrouded in impene- 
trable darkness. Human reason could never dis- 
cover them. But with her spiritual telescope — 
to use the expression of an excellent writer — we 
descry the mysterious attributes of God, we per- 
ceive what we must adore, believe, and love. 
" The grandest things that we know," says St. 
Chrysostom, a are not derived from reasoning, 
but from faith. God is everywhere, and yet 
without parts. What could there be more re- 
pugnant to reason? .... Acknowledge, then, the 
darkness in which we are. Every where inevi- 
table contradictions ; every where faith is neces- 
sary. It alone is firm and solid."* 

But how can faith be reconciled with reason? 
Only by the submission of the latter to the for- 
mer. "Revelation, at one time," remarks Lu- 

* Horn, v, in Ep. ad Colloss< 



FAITH. 197 

zerne, " submits its proofs to the investigation 
of reason, and, then again, subjects reason to the 
decrees of revelation." And Chateaubriand : 
" Prodigious, indeed, is that reason which has 
shewn us, in faith, the source of all virtues. . . . 
Reasoning is strong, a poem is divine, a picture 
is beautiful, only because the eye or mind that 
judges of them is convinced of a certain truth, 
hidden in that reasoning, poem, or picture. A 
small number of soldiers, persuaded of the skill 
of their general, do wonders. Thirty-five thou- 
sand Greeks follow Alexander to the conquest of 
the world. . . . Columbus, alone in the whole uni- 
verse, persisted in believing in a new world, and 
a new world starts from the waves. It was be- 
cause they believed, that Codrus, Pylades, Regu- 
lus, performed prodigies. And behold why hearts 
that believe nothing, which regard as illusions the 
attachments of the soul, and as folly the most 
splendid actions, and look with pity on the imagi- 
nation and tenderness of genius, yes, behold why 
such hearts achieve nothing great, or generous." 
The rationalist w T ould fain make it a mark of 
weakness and littleness to believe in supernatural 
truths : whereas, in reality, there can be no real 
greatness except in faith. Prostrate before the 
majesty of God, the believer sees His power ? 
17* 



198 FAITH. 

goodness, and justice, through the medium of 
faith : and his thoughts, mind, and heart, rising in- 
finitely above the earth, soar up to the very hea- 
vens, and blend with Eternity. 

" The method I have given, 1 ' writes Rousseau, 
" may, I think, be of service to those who wish 
to make use of their reason. But as that natural 
way of seeking after the truth is extremely diffi- 
cult ; and is, ordinarily, useful only in resolving 
questions of little importance, and the knowledge 
of which serves rather to flatter our pride than to 
perfect our minds, I believe, that the shortest 
way to discover truth is to be united to God in 
the most pure and perfect manner : to live as true 
Christians, to follow, exactly, the precepts of 
eternal truth . . . to hearken more to our faith than 
our reason, and to tend to God, not so much 
by our natural strength, which since our fall has 
ever been languishing, as by the aid of faith, by 
which God wishes to conduct us into that im- 
mense light of truth which will dissipate all our 
darkness."* 

The testimony of Bayle is not less explicit : 
"Our theological truths,' 5 he says, "are founded 
on the authority of an infinite Being, who cannot 
deceive nor be deceived. This is the motive and 

* Bern. eh. Meth. de recherch. la Verite. 



FAITH, 199 

basis of our persuasion. Let philosophy strive 
to undermine it as it may ; it will be found an 
impenetrable buckler. . . . Philosophy should 
yield to the authority of God, and take down its 
standard in presence of the Scripture. 

" There is no faith better established on rea- 
son, than that which is established on the ruins of 
reason. There is no truth more certain than this ; 
the testimony of God is preferable to that of men. 
If then we conclude, that it is more reasonable to 
believe rather what God says than what the light 
of nature dictates, we must abandon what it dic- 
tates not in accordance with the holy Scripture. 
. . . Christianity established in that sense, on the 
ruins of human reason, is the true Christianity — 
Christianity the most reasonable. 

u When sound reason says one thing, and reve- 
lation another, we should close our ears to the 
voice of reason : thus faith and reason act, by 
turns, the mistress and the servant. They who 
would submit to the tribunal of reason revealed 
truths, do not see, that such a proceeding would 
be to overturn all the mysteries of the Gospel."* 

" The act of the will," says Damiron, " whose 
motive is entire and unvacillating conviction, 
performs miracles of virtue, of labor, of industry. 

* Reponse aux quest. <Tun Provin. Tom. iii. 



200 FAITH, 

Faith removes mountains : in this expression, there 
is more than a figure. It is a poetical, but faith- 
ful, expression of the conquests which man has 
made over nature, whenever the soul has had that 
vast and longing desire which is given by ardent, 
profound, unalterable faith. " 

Goethe has solidly remarked, that " if in the 
sciences doubt is useful, in religion and in moral- 
ity, it is the poison of the soul. In philosophistic 
doubt, there is everything doubtful, false, in what 
is affirmed. Doubt comes from hell. 55 

"Faith is the consolation of the miserable, 55 
adds Vauvenargues, " and the terror of word- 
lings. 55 And Bacon has truly said : " A little 
philosophy will make an infidel : but much phi- 
losophy is a safe-guard to faith and truth. 55# 

And Voltaire: " When you see reason mak- 
ing such prodigious progress, but only at the mo- 
ment of the preaching of the Gospel, look upon 
faith as an ally, that must come to your aid, but 
not as an enemy whom you should attack. Re- 
member faith is more powerful to persuade than 
reason, dare to cherish, not to hate it. . . . There 
are as many lights in man, as there are mysteries 
in this life. Faith is the only asylum to which 
he can have recourse in the darkness of his rea- 

* De Augm. Stient. lib. 1. 



FAITH.* • 201 

son, and in the calamities of his weak and mortal 
nature. . . . We are children striving to take 
some steps without leading-strings ; we walk, 
fall, and faith comes to our relief. . . . 

" Rely upon it that one passes very melancholy 
moments, at the age of eighty, when floating in 
doubt. Cicero had doubts only : his grand-son 
and grand-daughter might have learned truth from 
the first Galileans who went to Rome. But be- 
fore that time, and since, in any part of the 
earth which the apostles have not penetrated, 
each individual must have said to his soul : Who 
art thou ? whence earnest thou ? what doest thou ? 
No one can know any thing of his own lights, 
without the assistance of a God." 

" I do not deem it necessary," wrote D'Agues- 
sau to his son, "to admonish you, that the per- 
suasion or conviction of the truths of religion to 
the certainty of which we can arrive by reasoning 
and study, should not be confounded with faith, 
which is a gift of God, a singular grace which 
He imparts to whom He pleases, and who exacts 
our gratitude the more, as we owe it entirely to 
His bounty. . . . But, though this conviction or 
species of human faith, which is acquired by the 
investigation of the proofs of the truth of the 
Christian religion, is of a very inferior order to 



202 



FAITH. 



divine faith, which is the principle of our sancti- 
fication, and though the simplicity of a peasant 
who firmly believes the mysteries of religion be- 
cause God teaches them, is infinitely preferable 
to all the erudition of a scholar, who is con- 
vinced of the truth of religion as he is of the 
certainty of a proposition of geometry, . . . nev- 
ertheless, it is very useful to look into attentively, 
and bring together carefully, all the visible marks 
with which it has pleased God to clothe and cha- 
racterize, so to speak, the true religion." 




CHAPTER XXIV. 

HOPE. 

This second theological virtue opens to the 
eye of the Christian bright and glorious vistas 
into the future life. The sincere believer, when 
oppressed with the miseries and sorrows of the 
world, descries, through the gloom, the termina- 
tion of his exile, and the beginning of his immor- 
tal happiness. Blessed is that man, for he hopes 
in the Lord : and he who is sustained and ani- 
mated by such hope, has nothing to fear. 

" There is in heaven," says Chateaubriand, 
"a divine power, the assiduous companion of 
religion and virtue. By her, we are aided to 
support life ; she embarks with us on the ocean 
of time and guides to the port when the tempest 
rages. . . . Although her eyes are covered with a 
bandage, her vision penetrates the future. Some- 
times she holds young flowers in her hands, some- 
times a goblet filled with an enchanting liquor. 
Nothing can compare with the sweetness of her 
voice, the charms of her smile. The nearer we 
approach to the tomb, the more brilliantly does 



204 H-OPE, 

she manifest herself to mortals. Faith and Char- 
ity call her sister, and her name is Hope." 

Voltaire has elegantly sung of hope, in his 
Henriade : 

" God's boundless love, who placed us here below, 
Of this brief life to sweeten every woe, 
Two beings, 'mongst us, to the earth hath sent, 
Soothing companions of our banishment : 
The one sweet sleep, the other hope serene. 
The one, when man worn down with care hath been, 
And his weak body, all relaxed its strength, 
And all unstrung its organs, yields at length, 
Comes, with a soothing charm, to his relief, 
And brings oblivion to fatigue and grief. 
The other warms the heart, inflames desire— 
******** 

But when to favored mortals she appears, 

No changing or unfruitful joy she bears : 

But aid and promise from Heaven's bright abode, 

Pure, solid, and enduring, like her God." * 

And Saint Victor: 

" O thou, with beauty and with youth adorned, 
And crowned with pleasure in life's sunny days, 
Come, child of vanity and treacherous goods, 
Learn that true happiness dwells not on earth : 
Come to the field ; beneath the lonely hut, 
Stretched on his couch, unpitied, and forgot, 
Behold the aged man about to end 
His days protracted, and with pain consumed. 

* Chap, vii. 



HOPE. 205 

In vain, upon the wide field, did his hand 

The circle of the seasons firmly grasp, 

And heap in countless piles the harvest rich. 

His pitiless master, each returning year, 

Enjoyed the treasures of his industry. 

And bore to Paris on a gilded car 

The fruits of his laborious toil, repaid, 

Too often, with contempt : his life entire 

Was but a course of suffering : at this hour, 

"What gives him strength his heavy lot to bear? 

And when, by slow degrees, death cuts the chords 

Of this ungrateful life, who will bestow 

The guerdon which his virtues have deserved? 

Ah ! in that wretched cot, religion eyes 

His desolation, and enkindles hope : 

Hope watches near, sustains him, cheers his grief, 

Comforts his soul, and wipes away his tears : 

And pointing to a better, brighter world, 

Reveals the erown of never-ending bliss, 

And wafts him smiling to the gates of heaven." 




CHAPTER XXV. 



CHARITY, 



The third theological virtue embraces the 
love of God in the first place, and of our fellow- 
beings in the second. Charity is not that human 
sentiment which is styled humanity. It is a gift 
of God : it is grace, it is joy. 

The ancient philosophers, who did not know 
God through faith, longed for a revelation : mo- 
dern philosophers reject it. But what an incon- 
sistency ? Did they possess upright hearts, and 
were they as humane as they pretend to be, they 
would acknowledge that religion which ordains 
the two-fold love of the Creator, and of all intel- 
ligent creatures : which condemns the secret evil 
desires of the heart, and promises an eternal re- 
compense to all who will have shewn mercy 
towards men, and proved their fidelity to their 
God, their rulers, and their country. 

All the lessons on the subject of philanthropy 
and benevolence which philosophers and moral- 
ists have taught, fall infinitely beneath the pre- 
cepts contained in the sacred volume. 



CHARITY. '201 

What is humanity without religion ? A natu- 
ral sentiment, it is true, but a sentiment that mani- 
fests itself only on occasions that rarely occur. 
The irreligious man, if he be humane, will not 
refuse to assist the miserable being who implores 
his aid ; but the Christian does not content himself 
with affording solace and relief to those who ask 
his charity, he will seek out the unfortunate, and 
carry consolation to those who dare not request it. 

" All the mysteries of the Christian religion," 
observes Bautain, " consist in charity. ... All 
the moral of the Gospel is comprised in the word 
charity. All the perfection of the Christian is 
found in that one only virtue. For, faith and 
humility, self-abnegation and hope, only conduct 
to charity. The end of this fraternal charity 
among the faithful, and of this devotion to their 
Master, is to destroy the barriers that separate 
man from God, and divide men among themselves. 
It is to unite them in one faith, in one hope, and 
in one felicity." 

" Men," cries out Rousseau, " be humane, be 
charitable ; this is your first duty. Be so towards 
all conditions, all ages, to all that belongs to hu- 
man kind. What wisdom can you have estranged 
from humanity ? The opportunity to impart hap- 
piness is more rare than is thought ; the punish- 



208 CHARITY. 

ment for not profiting by it is never to meet it 
again : and the use we make of it leaves either an 
eternal sentiment of contentment, or of remorse. 55 

It is to the sublime Christian morality that we 
are indebted for the command to love our neigh- 
bor. It has given birth to charity, that divine 
virtue, without which all other virtues are value- 
less. It is in the name of charity that woman has 
been raised to an equality with man : in that same 
divine name, the chains of bondage have been 
broken asunder, and men made free ! The end 
of religion, the soul of all virtues, and the abridg- 
ment of the law, is charity. On this foundation 
of charity, according to Bossuet, " God perfects 
every state of life. Superiors learn that they are 
the servants of others, and devoted to their wel- 
fare. Inferiors recognise the providence of God 
in all legitimate power, even when that power is 
abused. This thought sweetens the pain of sub- 
jection, and, under oppressive masters, obedience 
is no longer oppressive to the true Christian."* 

"What is a rich man in the spirit of the 
world ?" asks Cambaceres. " A man of sport, 
festivals, theatres, amusements, whose glory con- 
sists in being proudly frivolous, whose merit in 
refusing nothing to the passions: and who put- 

* Hist. Univers. 



CHARITY. 209 

ing no limits to his desires except those of his 
fortune, is great only by his crimes and scandals. 

" In the order of providence, a rich man is an 
angel of peace and consolation, placed between 
God and his fellow-beings. He is the ambassa- 
dor from heaven, and, as it were, the apostle of 
providence, . . . and like the luminary of day, 
whose brilliant orb speaks of the glory of the 
Creator to every eye, the rich man, by his chari- 
ties, speaks to the hearts of all men, and tells of 
the wisdom and bounty divine. 

u What is the poor man, in the estimation of 
the world ? Alas ! what colors can depict him ! 
He is an isolated being, proscribed, a sad out- 
cast from all society. . . . He is looked upon with 
aversion, and approached with disgust. In him 
humanity has no rights, misfortune no dignity. . . . 
He becomes ashamed of his existence, and seems, 
by becoming wretched, to have ceased to be a 
man. 

" In the order of providence, on the contrary, 
a poor man is, in some sort, the most interesting 
of his works, and, as it were, the secret of his 
wisdom, which has rendered the poor precious, 
and necessary for the rich. Which wishes the 
rich to be the protectors of the poor, and the 
poor the saviours of the rich, whom he delivers 
18* 



210 C H A R I T Y . 

from the dangers of riches on earth, by affording 
them means of converting them into charities, by 
which they may purchase heaven 

"In a word, the rich and poor, in the order of 
providence, are the contrary of our ideas. The 
rich are the ministers of it, and the poor the well- 
beloved. The rich have their orders, the poor 
their rights : the former to give, the latter to re- 
ceive. And as that providence entrusts to pa- 
rents the education of their families, to legislators 
the government of society, and to kings the ad- 
ministration of empires, so he has made the rich 
to confide to them the care of the poor. . . . P. 

The general rule of charity is not to do evil to 
any one ; to treat all as naturally equal : that is, 
as our fellow-men. Guided by this rule, the 
Christian will perform gratuitous acts of benevo- 
lence and generosity, and will give shining in- 
stances of disinterestedness and magnanimity. In 
his deeds of philanthropy, he will act with a 
cheerful and buoyant spirit, and sanctify them by 
the purest intentions, and loftiest motives. 

"Every day," writes Barthelemy, "you be- 
hold your fellow-citizens groaning under misfor- 
tune, some of whom have need of but one word 
of consolation, and one throb of a heart pene- 
trated with their sorrows. And you enquire 



C H A K I T Y i 211 

whether you can be useful to men ? And you 
ask whether nature has given us any compensa- 
tion for the evils with which she afflicts us ? Ah ! 
did you only know what delights are shed into 
those hearts that follow her inspirations. If ever 
you rescue a deserving man from indigence, dis- 
honor, death, I appeal to the emotions you expe- 
rience as a witness ! You, then, see, that there 
are in life, moments of sensibility which com- 
pensate for years of pain. . . . Fear not the envi- 
ous; they will meet their punishment in the ob- 
duracy of their character, for envy is the rust 
that eats into the iron. Fear not the presence of 
the ungrateful, they will fly yours, or rather they 
will seek it again, if the favors they have re- 
ceived from you be accompanied and followed 
by esteem and interest. For, if you have abused 
the authority which you possess, you are guilty, 
and your protection is blamable. It is sometimes 
said : he who renders a service ought to forget 
it, he who receives ought to remember it. And 
I tell you, that the latter will remember, if the 
former forgets it. And what if I should be mis- 
taken? Is it from interested motives that we 
should do good ?" # 

* Voyage d'Jlnacharsis. 



212 CHARITY. 

With reason has Fenelo# declared "that ava- 
rice and ambition are the only sources of unhap- 
piness among men." And Bautain ; " Egotism 
is the first cause of every injustice, the root of 
all the passions and vices, the lever of all crimes, 
and the source of all the evils that befall human- 
ity. Man does not commit evil for the sake of 
the evil : but always with the hope that some 
good will result from his very crime. He is 
wicked from interest, and all the passions that 
agitate him, have </' for their starting-point and 
term 

" We must admit that in society as we find it 9 
there is but one principle of human actions, viz. 
J: self-interest, egotism disguising itself under 
all forms, even the most insinuating, but still con- 
tinuing, in reality, what it is — a serpent. Fain 
would it hide itself under flowers, and borrow 
the most brilliant colors; even when it seduces, 
by its appearances, and fascinates by its charms, 
its poison is inhaled by the hapless mortal whom 
it approaches." 

Christian charity is the principle of life. He 
ivho loveth not his brother, says St. John, remain- 
eth in death. Dearly beloved, love one another. 
He who loveth not, hath not known God; for God 
is love. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR WORSHIP — THE EUCHA- 
RIST. 

The worship we owe to God is that which is 
styled by theologians latria. And although this 
can add nothing essentially to His glory, it serves 
to manifest it. From the idea of God, the crea- 
tor and master of all things, flows the necessity 
of religious worship: and from the idea of His 
providence, preserving all things by His power, 
emanates the duty of rendering Him the tri- 
bute of our homages, and our thanks. 

Worship, the sign of the relation between God 
and man, should be interior and exterior. That 
prescribed by Christianity is pure and holy : for 
it is founded on charity, gratitude, docility of 
heart and mind, the practice of modesty, recol- 
lection, and all the virtues. 

The necessity of exterior worship is derived 
from the very nature of man. An intelligent be- 
ing, he understands that he owes homage to the 
author of his being, to the common Father of the 
human family. 



214 INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR WORSHIP 

This two-fold worship constitutes a worship 
the most holy, august, and perfect. Reason ap- 
proves of it because it is worthy of reason, and 
God accepts it because it is worthy of His ac- 
ceptance. 

In all ages, man has offered to God an exterior 
worship : every where have altars been raised to 
His glory, on which sacrifices were offered, and 
before which prayer was sent up, to the Most 
High. Man being such, says the Council of 
Trent, that he cannot, but difficultly, and without 
sensible signs, raise himself to the meditation of 
divine things, the Church, like a tender mother, 
has established certain rites, and ordained, that 
certain parts of the mass should be said in a low, 
and others in an audible, voice. She has also in- 
stituted ceremonies in conformity with the apos- 
tolic discipline and tradition. 

Prayer is natural to man : it causes him to forget 
his troubles, tranquillizes his mind, calms his pas- 
sions. Among the Romans, it was customary, when 
sitting down at table, for the master of the house 
to take a cup of wine, and sprinkle a few drops 
on the ground. This was a libation in honor of 
providence. Christians, at all times, have been 
accustomed to offer prayer before and after meals, 
to thank God for the repast they had taken, or 



THE EUCHARIST. 215 

ask his blessing on that they were about to take, 
and this pious custom cannot be too seriously 
recommended in all families. 

In the Alcibiades of Plato there is a prayer to 
the following effect : " Great God ! grant what is 
good, even when we do not ask for it ; and refuse 
what is evil, even though we should request it." 

The Lord's prayer is eminently the prayer of 
the Christian, dictated by our Lord himself, and 
includes confession, adoration, humility, and sup- 
plication. 

" Prayer," says Montesquieu, " is a religious 
duty. All civilized people dwell in houses, 
whence has naturally sprung the idea of building 
a house of God, w 7 here they might adore Him, 
and seek Him in their fears or hopes. In fact, 
nothing is more consoling to men, than to have a 
place where they find the Divinity more present, 
and where they may, altogether, tell their weak- 
nesses and their miseries. 55 * 

" Prayer," writes Damiron, " is the offspring 
of faith and love, destined to vivify and fortify 
souls. It is a sigh for eternal life. . . . Prayer is 
nothing but the aspiration of the soul to the su- 
preme and absolute good : it is in perfect har- 
mony with the general destination of man ; for, 
* Espr. des lois, liv. xxv. 



216 INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR WORSHIP 

whether it raises him up and sustains him, 
whether it excites and exalts him, it cannot fail 
to fortify him and render him better and happier. 
Prayer, without being precisely virtue, is the be- 
ginning of all virtue. To pray, to pray well, is 
the preparation for living well." 

" In the conviction of his misery," observes 
Cousin, " man conceives obscurely and vaguely 
the all-perfect being, and cannot conceive Him 
without feeling himself comforted and relieved, 
without experiencing the desire to possess still 
more, were it only for a passing moment, the 
power and sweetness of this consolation. The 
poor woman, whose prayer Fenelon envied, did 
not pronounce learned words : she wept in si- 
lence, lost in the thought of the all-perfect and 
infinite Being, the unseen witness, and secret 
consoler, of all her misery. We all resemble 
that poor woman." 

" When you have prayed," remarks Lamen- 
nais, " do you not feel your heart more light, 
and your soul more content. Prayer renders 
affliction less painful, and joy more pure : it min- 
gles with the one I know not what strength and 
sweetness, and with the other a celestial perfume." 

But, it is objected, this exterior rite of religion 
loses all its efficacy, as the services of the church 



THE EUCHARIST. 217 

are celebrated in a language unknown to the 
people. 

To this objection, I will reply in the words of 
a learned writer : u It was necessary for the 
church, in order to preserve unity of faith, to 
employ a fixed and unchangeable language, while 
all other tongues were variable, and in course of 
time, have, most of them, become obsolete. See 
what takes place among Protestants : they have 
adopted, in their liturgies, the living languages ; 
and the consequence is that they must constantly 
renew their formularies, and even re-touch the 
translation of the Bible : hence alterations with- 
out end. Had the church done the same, it 
would have been necessary to convoke general 
councils every fifty years in order to renew and 
re-adapt her formularies in the administration of 
the sacraments. 

" Unity of language was necessary to preserve 
the strictest bond, and the easiest communication 
of doctrine, among the different churches of the 
world, and to keep them most faithfully attached 
to the centre of Catholic unity. Take away the 
Latin language, and the Italian priest who travels 
in France, or the French priest who travels in 
England, could not celebrate the holy mysteries. 
This is the case with Protestants. Out of their 
19 



218 INTERIOR AJVD EXTERIOR WORSHIP 

own country, they cannot participate in public 
worship. A Catholic is not a foreigner in any 
country, as far as his worship is concerned. A 
learned language, understood only by educated 
men, inspires greater respect than the popular 
jargon. . . . For the people of Britainny, Picardy, 
Auvergne, and Gascony, according to the princi- 
ples of the reformers, have as much right to the 
Calvinistic liturgy in their jargon, as the Parisians 
have to it in the purest French 

" The Latin language in the west, the Greek 
in the east, . . . preserve something of the majesty 
of Rome which becomes the much greater ma- 
jesty of the Catholic church. 

" If religion and reason owe immortal thanks to 
the Catholic church for having adopted the Greek 
and Latin languages, the sciences are not the less 
indebted to her. By immortalizing their tongue, 
the church has immortalized the literature of the 
Greeks and Romans, just as the popes have 
saved, by sanctifying them, the monuments of the 
Caesars. Without the cross that crowns it, the 
pillar of Trajan would, long since, have fallen to 
the ground." # 

In order to render our worship perfect, it is 
necessary that there should be in the treasures of 

* Gaume 9 p. 106* 



THE EUCHARIST. 219 

the church a sacrament, which, by its unity, 
should take the place of all the ancient sacrifices, 
and should surpass them, infinitely, by its excel- 
lence. This is my body, said Christ, at the last 
supper: and the words were realised. Under 
the visible appearances of bread, his flesh and 
blood were concealed. Do this in commemoration 
of me, he added ; and the perpetual sacrifice of 
the altar, bloodless, but yet real, was instituted. 
St. Paul received this doctrine from Christ him- 
self, after His ascension into heaven, and deliv- 
ered it to the faithful, with this solemn caution : 
He who eateth or drinketh unworthily, eateth and 
drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the 
body of the Lord. * 

" The man," says Chateaubriand, " who 
would approach worthily, once a month, the sa- 
crament of the Eucharist, would be, necessarily, 
the most virtuous man on earth. Transfer the 
reasoning from the individual to the collective, 
from a man to the people, and you will see that 
communion is an entire legislation." 

" Look at those men," writes Voltaire, " who 
receive God into their bosoms, in the midst of 
august ceremonies, with the glimmering of tapers, 
and music that enchants the senses, at the foot of 

* Catech. de per sever. 



220 INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR WORSHIP — 

an altar glittering with gold. The imagination 
is subdued: the soul is ravished; it scarcely 
breathes; it is detached from all terrestial things ; 
it is united to God, who is in our flesh and in our 
blood. After this, who would dare, who could 
consent to commit a single fault, or harbor the 
thought of so doing? It is impossible, certainly, 
to imagine a mystery that could more effectually 
preserve men in virtue."* 

Chateaubriand directs our attention to four 
things in the sacrament of the Eucharist : 

1st. In the material bread and wine, we see 
the consecration of the nourishment of men, which 
comes from God, and is derived from his munifi- 
cence. Were there nothing more in communion 
than this offering of the richness of the earth 
to Him who bestows it, that alone would be 
enough to entitle it to be compared with the 
finest religious ceremonies of Greece. 

2d. The Eucharist is a memorial of the pasch 
of the Israelites which dates from the days of the 
Pharaohs. It announces the abolition of bloody 
sacrifices ; and is, moreover, the type of the vo- 
cation of Abraham, and of the first alliance of 
God with men. Every thing grand in antiquity, 
in history, in legislation, in sacred figures, is to 

* Encyclop. To.iv. Ed. de Geneve, 



THE EUCHARIST. 221 

be found united in the communion of the Chris- 
tian. 

3d. The Eucharist announces the union of all 
men in one great family, puts an end to enmities, 
teaches natural equality and the establishment of 
a new law which will make no distinction amongst 
Gentiles and Jews, and will invite all the chil- 
dren of Adam to the same table. 

4th. In fine, the fourth thing which we dis- 
cover in the Eucharist, is the direct mystery, 
and the real presence of God in the consecrated 
bread. It is necessary here for the soul to pene- 
trate, for a moment, into that intellectual world 
which was opened to it before its fall. 

" After the Almighty had created man to his 
image, and breathed into him the breath of life, 
He made an alliance with him. Adam and God 
communed together in solitude. That alliance 
was, of right, broken by Adam's disobedience. 
The Eternal Being could, no longer, communi- 
cate with death, spirituality with matter. Now, 
between two things of different properties, there 
can be no point of contact except through a me- 
dium. The first effort made by Divine Love to 
approach us, was by the vocation of Abraham, 
and the establishment of sacrifices, figures that 
announced to the world the coming of the Mes- 
19* 



222 INTERIOR AND EXTERTOR WORSHIP — 

siah. The Saviour^ in restoring us to our ends, 
. . . reinstated us in our privileges ; of which the 
most precious was to hold communion with our 
Creator. But this communion could not be in an 
immediate way, as in the terrestial Paradise : 
first, because our origin continued sullied ; se- 
condly, because our body, now subject to the 
tomb, has become too feeble to communicate di- 
rectly with God. An intermediate agency was 
therefore necessary. The Son of God has fur- 
nished it. He has given Himself to man in the 

Eucharist 

"But if the Son of God had remained in his 
primitive essence, it is evident, that the same 
separation would have existed here below be- 
tween God and man : because He could not have 
effected a union between purity and crime, be- 
tween an eternal result and the dream of our life. 
The Word, then, by entering into the woman's 
womb, has deigned to become like ourselves. 
On one side He is united with His father by His 
spirituality, and on the other, with the flesh by 
His human nature. He thus becomes the desired 
medium between the guilty child and the merci- 
ful parent. In concealing Himself under bread, 
He is to the eye of the body a sensible object, 
whilst, to the eye of the soul, He remains an in- 



THE EUCHARIST. 



223 



tellectual object. If He has chosen bread as a 
veil, it is because wheat is a pure and noble em- 
blem of divine nourishment. 

" If this high and mysterious theology of which 
we content ourselves with tracing but a few fea- 
tures, frighten our readers, they should not fail 
to remark, at least, how luminous are these meta- 
physics, compared with those of Pythagoras, 
Plato, Aristotle, and Epicurus. They contain 
none of those abstractions of ideas, for which it 
is necessary to create a language unintelligible to 
the common mass of men."* 

* Genie du Christ, chap. 7. 




C H A P T E R XXVII, 

FASTING—ABSTINENCE — VENERATION OF SAINTS — 
THE SUNDAY. 

We often hear the objection repeated against 
fasting and abstinence, that what enters into the 
mouth of man does not defile him. This is ma- 
terially true : and no enlightened Christian ever 
imagined that, of itself, any food has such a rela- 
tion with the soul, as to have the effect to soil its 
purity. But he understands that the sin consists 
in disobeying the command of God, made known 
through His church ;. as our first parents incurred 
guilt from their disobedience to Him, in not ab- 
staining from the fatal apple in Paradise. 

On fast-days the sacred canons declare that 
the faithful shall perform alms-deeds. Fasting, 
without prayer and alms, is of little value. And 
St. Leo asks : " What is there more useful or 
more efficacious than fasting, to disarm the ene- 
my of salvation, to overcome the passions, and 
resist the seductions of vice? Fasting is the 
aliment of virtue : it inspires good thoughts and 
holy desires : it silences the carnal appetites, and 
renews the spiritual man. But as the vigor of 



FASTING ABSTINENCE, &C. 225 

the soul is not maintained by fasting alone, our 
abstinence, to be agreeable to God, should be 
accompanied by works of charity." # 

" There still exists in France a custom," writes 
Gaume, " which proves with what fidelity our 
fathers submitted to the rigors of penance and 
fasting during lent. Who would believe it ? — 
this is the custom of exhibiting in the streets the 
fat bull. Formerly everybody religiously ob- 
served abstinence, and lent. One only butcher 
was permitted to sell meat for the use of the sick. 
That privilege was conceded to him who, in the 
judgment of men versed in such matters, could 
produce the fattest ox, which, after the decision 
was made, the fortunate butcher paraded, richly 
decorated and crowned with fillets, tlwough the 
streets of the city."f 

In my remarks on exterior worship, I have, 
thus far, confined myself to that which is due to 
God alone, and which is styled latria. There are 
two other inferior kinds of worship, viz : that of 
dulia, and of hyperdulia : the former paid to the 
saints in heaven, the latter to the ever-blessed 
mother of the Redeemer — the Virgin Mary. 

The church has been censured by her oppo- 
nents for the respect she pays the saints : by some 

* Serm. ii, de Jejun. f See Cath.pers. 8, p. 99. 



226 FASTING ABSTINENCE 

it is styled superstition, by others idolatry. But 
in spite of their temerity in charging the spouse 
of Christ with such crimes, their very reason, if 
they but reflect, will condemn their prejudices. 
For, have not the homages of the world been 
given, in every age, to the virtues and merits of 
eminent men ? And why refuse them to those who, 
by their union with God in the realms of immor- 
tality, are the most eminent and the most glori- 
ous ? We accordingly venerate their names, and 
invoke their intercession, but do not pray to them 
as having, of themselves, any inherent power to 
assist us : we dedicate chapels and altars under 
their patronage, but not to them — God alone be- 
ing the object of our adoration, Christ alone the 
supreme mediator between us and His eternal 
Father. Whenever the word adore is used in 
the liturgy as apparently referring to a creature, 
it either is used in a wide or poetical significa- 
tion, or it is applied to the Divinity alone. Thus, 
on Good-Friday, when the church calls upon the 
faithful to adore the cross, she unquestionably 
means that they should adore Him who died on 
the cross, and, in consequence of that wood being 
consecrated by his death, that they should, like- 
wise, pay it reverence. 



VENERATION OF SAINTS THE SUNDAY. 227 

It is urged by Protestants and philosophers as 
an argument against the church, that her ceremo- 
nies are borrowed from the Pagans. This is, in- 
deed, a very weak objection. It is certain that 
all nations have had religious ceremonies. Amid 
the mass of superstitious practices, there lingered, 
as well in their belief as in their moral, some 
sparks of the primitive revelation. What was the 
conduct of the church ? As the depository of all 
truths, she winnowed the good from the evil, the 
true from the false. And in reply to her oppo- 
nents and pretended rivals, she says : " I am long 
before you : I mount up to the first ages of the 
world : I have received the truth as a deposite — 
all the true, the good, the praiseworthy that you 
possess, are mine.' 5 Moreover she has purified, 
sanctified those usages, as she has purified and 
consecrated the temples of idolatry, and converted 
them into churches to the glory of their true 
master. This, in substance, is the answer of St. 
Augustine to Faustus, the Manichean * 

Bergier has wisely remarked, that the use of 
ceremonies in the worship of the true God, has 
not been borrowed by Christians, but restored by 
Pagans. True religion is more ancient than false, 
and has a right to vindicate again the rites which 
* Contr. Faust, lib. 20, cap. iv, xxi. 



228 FASTING ABSTINENCE 

her rivals had profaned. Must we abstain from 
prayer because prayer was offered to Jove? 
Must we be forbidden to kneel, because the vota- 
ries of Diana knelt before her shrine ? The in- 
consistency and imbecility of this argument, or 
rather sophistry, must be apparent to every can- 
did reader : for, were it carried out to its full 
extent, it would destroy, as superstitious, all ex- 
ternal worship. 

Closely connected with this subject is the ob- 
servance of the Sunday: " than which," remarks 
Raynal, "were it merely a civil, and not a reli- 
gious, institution, nothing could be more admira- 
ble." And, with his sweet unction, Fenelon 
exclaims: "With what holy impatience, during 
the entire week, was the Sunday looked for, 
when the brethren, in a sacred repose, exchanged 
the kiss of peace, and formed together but one 
heart and one soul. . . . They sighed after the joy 
of those holy assemblies, after the hymns of 
praise to God, after the sacred festival of the 
Lamb."* 

"Impiety has shewn itself cruelly absurd," 
writes Chateaubriand, " when, abolishing the 
Sunday, it wished to calculate the strength of 
laborers as that of beasts of burden. How ro- 

* Discours pour lejour de VEpiph. 



VENERATION OF SAINTS THE SUNDAY. 229 

bust soever he may be, man stands in need of re- 
pose. Tins all nations have felt, and all have ap- 
pointed days to satisfy that necessity. The seventh 
is the most suitable. 

" It is now proved by experience, that the fifth 
is too early, and the tenth too remote, for repose. 
The terror which could effect every thing in France, 
could never force the peasant to observe the dec- 
ade, because there is a want of strength in men, 
as there is, likewise, in beasts. The ox cannot 
labor more than nine days at a time : at the end 
of the sixth, his lowings seem to demand the hour 
marked by the general repose of nature. The 
peasants say : Our oxen know the Sunday, and 
refuse to work on that day."* 

That this day was devoutly observed by the 
primitive Christians all history abounds with in- 
numerable testimonies. We learn especially from 
St. Justin, " that on the day of the sun, as the 
pagans called the Lord's day, all who lived in the 
city or in the country, were accustomed to assem- 
ble in the same place. . . . We assemble, then," he 
adds, " because it was on that day that God 
began the creation of the world, and that Jesus 
Christ, our Saviour, arose and appeared to his 

* Genie du Christ. 4 partie. 

20 



230 FASTING ABSTINENCE, &C. 

Apostles, and taught them what we have placed 
before your eyes."* 

On that sacred day, the faithful assisted at the 
sacrifices of the altar, and partook of the holy 
Eucharist, which, from the earliest ages, was, in 
some parts, administered under the form of bread 
only, while the priests always received under 
both kinds. Whether communion be given to 
the laity under one species, or both, is a point of 
ecclesiastical discipline which is discretionary 
with the Church, and which, in effect, has varied 
at different times, and under different circum- 
stances .f 

* Apolog. f Cone, Const. Sess. xiii. 



O^Qj 





CHAPTER XXVIII- 

CONFESSION PRAYER COMMUNION. 

Confession cannot be a human institution. It 
is too repugnant to the inclination of human nature, 
to have been palmed upon the credulities or super- 
stitions of men. The whole world would have 
reclaimed against the reformer who presumed 
to bind down the consciences of the people to a 
tribunal of his own invention : and the faithful 
page of history would have stigmatized his effort. 
The fact of its always having been identified with 
the Church, been practised by the wisest and best 
of Christians, been perpetuated to our own times, 
proves, incontestably, its origin, its sanctity, its 
divinity. Even Voltaire has acknowledged 
that " there is no establishment more wise."* 
And again : u Confession is an excellent thing . . . 
it is very good to induce hearts ulcerated with 
hatred to forgive, and to cause the robbers of their 
neighbor's goods to make restitution."f 

* Remarques sur la Tragedie d'Olympie. 
f Die. Philos. Art. Catech. du Cure. 



232 CONFESSION PRAYER COMMUNION. 

The same author adds : " The enemies of the 
Roman Church, who have risen against so salu- 
tary an institution, appear to have taken from 
men the strongest curb to their crimes. . . . Thus, 
the Christian religion has consecrated things of 
which God had permitted human reason to descry 
the utility, and embrace the shadow."* 

Marmontel has expressed his sentiments on 
this subject in these words : " What a preserva- 
tive of the morals of youth is the obligation of 
confessing every month !" And Leibnitz : " We 
cannot deny that this institution is the work of 
the wisdom of God. There is nothing in Chris- 
tianity more worthy of eulogy. I look upon a 
grave, pious, and prudent confessor, as a great 
instrument of God for the salvation of souls. 
And if one can hardly find a faithful friend on 
earth, what is it to find one who is obliged by the 
sacredness of a divine oath to observe fidelity 
and assist souls. The confessor confers peace, 
honor, light, and moral liberty." Voltaire 
agrees with him, that u Confession is a divine in- 
stitution, which has its origin in the infinite mercy 
of its author. . . . The obligation of repentance 
dates from the period when man lost his inno- 
cence. Repentance only can take the place of 
* Annul, de V Empire, I. i. 



CONFESSION PRAYER COMMUNION. 233 

innocence. To give evidence of repentance, sins 
must be acknowledged. . . . Confession was prac- 
tised in the mysteries of Orpheus, of Isis, of 
Ceres of Samothracia. History informs us that 
Marcus Aurelius, when initiating himself in the 
mysteries of Ceres Eleusina, was obliged to con- 
fess to the Hierophant." 

We must not, however, imagine that it was in 
imitation of the pagan rites that Christ instituted 
confession. The traces of this duty, preserved in 
paganism, were the remains of a primitive reve- 
lation, since we find it among all nations. Con- 
fession is a law of fallen, guilty human nature. 
Christ renewed it, sanctified it, and raised it to the 
dignity of a sacrament. Raynal remarks that 
" the Jesuits established in Paraguay a theocratic 
government, but with an advantage peculiar to 
the religion that formed its basis — the practice of 
confession. It alone holds the place of all penal 
laws, and watches over the purity of manners. 
In Paraguay, religion, more powerful than the 
force of arms, conducts the guilty one to the feet 
of the magistrate. There, far from palliating his 
crimes, repentance makes him exaggerate them ; 
instead of eluding the punishment, he goes to 
demand it, upon his knees. The more severe 
and public it is, the more calm it imparts to the 
20* 



234 CONFESSION — PRAYER — COMMUNTON. 

criminal. Chastisement which, under other cir- 
cumstances, terrifies the guilty, is, under these, 
their consolation, because it hushes remorse by 
expiation. The people of Paraguay have no 
civil laws, because they have no property ; no 
criminal laws, because each one accuses himself 
voluntarily. All their laws are the precepts of 
religion. The best of all governments would be 
a theocracy on which the tribunal of confession 
is established.' 7 * 

Robespierre ordained : "that festivals should 
be instituted to awaken in man the thought of the 
dignity and divinity of his nature. "f 

" Prayer," says St. Martin, cc is the respira- 
tion of the soul." And Dufresne : " God has 
placed prayer and religious resignation between 
misfortune and the soul, to annihilate our sorrows, 
and save us from despair." 

Rousseau makes the Vicar of Savoy hold the 
following language : " Formerly I said mass with 
the levity which we are apt to indulge in the 
gravest things that are often repeated. Since the 
adoption of my new principles, I celebrate it with 
more veneration, I feel myself penetrated with 
the majesty of the Supreme Being, with his pre- 
sence, with the insufficiency of the human mind 

* Hist, polit. des Indes. ] Decret. 18, floreal an 2, 1792. 



CONFESSION PRAYER — COMMUNION. 235 

which conceives so imperfectly its relation with 
its author. Remembering that I offer Him the 
vows of the people under a prescribed form, I 
follow with care, all the ceremonies, I recite at- 
tentively, I am exact in not omitting a single word 
or ceremony. When I reach the moment of the 
consecration, I collect myself in order to do it 
with all the dispositions which the Church and 
the grandeur of the Sacrament demand. I en- 
deavor to annihilate my reason before the Supreme 
intelligence. I say to myself: who art thou to 
measure infinite power ? I pronounce, with re- 
spect, the sacramental words, and I give to their 
effect all the faith that depends on me. Incon- 
ceivable as is this mystery, I have no fear that on 
the day of judgment I shall be punished for pro- 
faning it." # 

And Voltaire breaks out into the foll&wing 
impassioned apostrophe: " My companions, my 
brethren, men who possess intelligence, adore, 
with me, the God who endowed you with it. 
Religion consists in submission to God, and the 
practice of virtue. ... It would be passing strange 
if all nature, all the stars obeyed the eternal laws, 
and that a little animal five feet high should con- 
temn those laws, and act as he pleases, led on 

* Emile, prof, de foi du Vic. Sav. 



236 CONFESSION — PRAYER COMMUNION. 

only by his caprices. . . . Let us be inflexible ser- 
vants of God 

Man is an atom vile, a point in space ; 
Yet from his everlasting dwelling-place 
God deigns to look upon our nothing here : 
Him only, and not mortals, should we fear. 

The adoration of the Being of beings is our first 
duty : not the only one, but the others are subor- 
dinate to it. . . . There is no civilized nation that 
does not adore God by public acts of religion." 
u One day," writes Bernardin de S. Pierre, 
"Jean Jacques Rousseau and myself finding our- 
selves, after a walk on Mount Valerian, to have 
reached the top of the mountain, formed the plan 
of requesting the hermits who dwell there, to 
give us dinner. We arrived at their monastery a 
short time before they sat down to table, and 
while they were engaged in the chapel. Rous- 
seau proposed that we should enter, and offer up 
a prayer. The hermits were reciting the litany 
of Providence, which is very beautiful. After 
finishing our prayer, and the hermits were on 
their way to the refectory, Rousseau exclaimed 
with emotion : I now experience what is said in 
the Gospel : Where two or three are assembled in 
my name, I am in the midst of them! There is 



CONFESSION PRAYER COMMUNION. 237 

here a sentiment of peace and happiness that pen- 
etrates the soul. r * 

Lord Fitzwilliam, in his letter to Atticus, 
concludes his subject hy laying down these three 
propositions : " First, virtue, justice, and morality 
being the basis of all government, it is impossible 
to establish that basis without the tribunal of pen- 
ance. 

11 Secondly : It is impossible to establish the tribu- 
nal of penance, without the belief in the real pre- 
sence, the fundamental ground of the Roman Cath- 
olic faith. 

u Thirdly : It is impossible to form a system of 
government which could be permanent or advan- 
tageous unless it rests upon the Roman Catholic 
religion." A most extraordinary admission, cer- 
tainly, from a Protestant writer. 

The secret of confession is of so inviolable a 
character, that the priest would rather die, than 
reveal it, or take any advantage of what he has 
learned only through the tribunal of penance. 
Because the reputation of the penitent is dearer 
to him than life itself. In this very city, the 
question was tried some thirty years ago, the 
Rev. Dr. Kohlmann being the accused, and the 
excellent Mr. Samson his counsellor. It was 

* Etudes, liv. 3. 



238 CONFESSION — PRAYER — COMMUNION. 

decided that the secret of confession was not, 
even by the laws of the country, required to be 
revealed. How much more just and liberal was 
this decision, in our own enlightened and glorious 
republic, than that issued in England two hun- 
dred years ago, against Father Garnet, because he 
would not break the inviolable seal of confession ! 

St. Gregory says, that the priest should be 
careful never to make known, by words, or signs, 
or in any other way, the sins of the penitent. 
" We ordain," he added, " that any priest, who 
should dare to disclose the sins of his penitent, 
be deposed, immured in a monastery, and con- 
demned to do penance during the remainder of 
his days." 

All priests, we know, have not been immacu- 
late. Yet, in consulting the history of past ages, 
we can discover very few instances in which the 
secrecy of the confessional has been violated. 
Nor can the confessor enquire of their penitents 
the names or residence of their accomplices : 
they are bound even to warn them not to discover 
in confession the names of those who have par- 
ticipated in their crimes. 

It has been objected that confession may be 
dangerous to the State. That the priests can 
make use of their influence, in that tribunal, to 



CONFESSION PRAYER COMMUNION. 239 

intimidate the weak, and cause them to take any 
part, no matter how fatal, against the govern- 
ment. How often have we not heard the cal- 
umny repeated in our own republic, that the 
confessor converts the tribunal of penance into a 
political lever ? — Alas ! how little acquainted are 
they who make this accusation, with the genuine 
spirit and nature of the sacrament of penance ! 
Politics and human affairs are not introduced into 
that sanctuary of faith and religion. The trans- 
actions there are of a spiritual, superhuman char- 
acter. This world — except as far as man's duties 
in life are concerned — is set aside, and a spiritual 
world is laid open, in that tribunal, of which, no 
where else, can be descried so clear and bright 
a view. 

There is another objection against confession, 
which is of so delicate a nature, that I prefer not 
to dwell upon it. I will merely remark, that the 
character of a priest is too sacred, his reputation 
too precious, his ministry too useful, to be blasted 
and ruined by the caprice, or perhaps, malice of 
an individual. An accusation against the minister 
of penance should not be easily admitted. The 
wise remark of St. Thomas should never be lost 
sight of: " Many are deterred from vice through 
fear of infamy : many, when they find themselves 



240 CONFESSION PRAYER COMMUNION. 

defamed, throw off all restraint and rush into 
crime."* The world is prone to propagate scan- 
dal against the ministers of religion. St. Augustine 
observed, fifteen hundred years ago, that " if any 
accusation, true or false, is made against one who 
professes piety, it is spread, insisted on, exagger- 
ated, and repeated, until it is believed by all who 
hear of it."f 

The word of the priest should, certainly, be 
taken, before the accusation of the laic. His re- 
putation is too dear, too sacred, to be sacrificed 
to the arts, the malice, or the jealousy of a slan- 
derer. But where there is evidence against the 
priest, who has attempted to change the sacred 
tribunal of penance into a place of criminal solici- 
tation, the laws of the church, the vigilance of 
bishops, and the insulted virtue of the penitent, 
will prove to the world how inexorable is the arm 
of justice in avenging the sanctity of the confes- 
sional. 

* Sec. 2, 33. Art. vii. f E P- 78 - 




CHAPTER XXIX, 

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 

The Catholic Church is composed of all true 
believers scattered throughout the universe but 
bound to the centre of unity established by its 
Divine Founder — the chair of Peter, at Rome. 
They adhere, in all sincerity, to the evangelical 
teachings, they profess the same faith, and the 
same morality, are animated by the same hope, 
governed by the same law, and sanctified by 
the same sacraments. During eighteen hun- 
dred years, all nations have acknowledged the 
existence of God, the fall of man, the advent 
of the Redeemer, and the divinity of his religion. 
During that period, a succession of lawful pas- 
tors has been uninterrupted ; — successors of the 
Apostles — charged by their ministry, to watch 
over the two-fold deposite of Scripture and tra- 
dition, and the instruction of the people in the 
faith and morality of the Gospel. 

The essential difference between the true 
Church and all sects is, that, amid the changes 
and revolutions — moral, physical, and social — 
21 



242 THE ROMAN CATHOLIC 

that have occurred from the era of her establish- 
ment, she has ever taught the same unvaried, and 
unadulterated doctrines : while sectarian charac- 
teristics are variability and disunion. The suc- 
cessors of Arius, Mahomet, Luther, Calvin, and 
others, have wandered into such strange and in- 
explicable divergencies of belief, that were the 
authors of the various sects to appear on earth, 
it would be impossible for them to find their way 
back, through the numberless mazes of the the- 
ological labyrinth, to their own original and 
primitive teachings. 

Christ spoke to his Apostles : " Go, teach all 
nations." 

Mahomet, six hundred years after, commanded 
his disciples: "Go, subjugate all nations." 

In one leader, we contemplate divine power, 
the energy and efficacy of the Eternal Word. 
In the other, human force, and the unsparing 
power of the cimeter. Well has Voltaire 
sung: 

" The Koran's sword, grasped in his bloody hands, 
Enforces, with dread silence, his commands. 
Of lies and hardihood, a medley wild, 
With civil discord, and base crime defiled : 
And he, thy prophet, gracious God ! i3 styled. 



AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 243 

His grim religion, in imposture born, 
Of every future age shall be the scorn ; 
The triumph he effected, for a time, 
Was founded upon error, upon crime."* 

The Church may be said to date her establish- 
ment from the moment when Christ addressed 
these memorable words to his Apostles : " I have 
chosen you, that you may go, bring forth fruity 
and your fruit shall remain. . . . Heaven and earth 
shall pass away, but my word shall not pass 
away.' 5 

The Jews and Gentiles were the first children 
of the Church. St. Peter converted, by his first 
sermon, not less than five thousand of them. That 
prince of the Apostles afterwards laid the foun- 
dation of the ecclesiastical power in Rome. 
From his day, the admirable chair of succession 
has never been interrupted. cc There is a plea- 
sure," says Pascal, tC in being in a ship lashed 
by the tempest, when there is a certainty of safety. 
The persecutions which harass the Church are 
of this nature." 

The supremacy was conferred on Peter by 
Jesus Christ in these terms : " Thou art Peter, 
and upon this rock I will build my Church, and 
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 

* Mahom. Trag. 



244 THE ROMAN CATHOLIC 

And He adds : " I give unto thee the keys of the 
kingdom of heaven : whatsoever ye shall bind on 
earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever 
ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 

By the gates of hell are designated the infernal 
powers, scandals, schisms,, heresies. By the keys 
authoritative administration; by the power of 
binding and loosing^ the magistrate character. 
The Church has three symbols : the first of the 
Apostles, consisting of twelve articles. The 
second of the Council of Nice, held in 325, and 
confirmed by that of Constantinople, six years 
later, which is recited at the Mass. The third, 
called the Jlthanasian, not because written by St. 
Athanasius, but because it vindicates the doctrine 
which he defended against the Arians. 

In the symbol of the Apostles we discover 
four distinctive characters of the true Church. 
The first, unity. One in faith, in the same sacra- 
ments, and the same lawful pastors. Voltaire 
addresses all who have separated from her fold, 
in these words : " And who are you, then, preach- 
ers in sheep-skins? Has Jesus Christ sent you, 
to the exclusion of all other Christians? Shew 
us what succession of priests, ordained by the 
Apostles, has transmitted the Holy Ghost to you, 
from Jerusalem to Neufchatel. From whom do 



AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 245 

you descend ? from a wool-carder, Jean Leclerc, 
burned at Metz : from Jean Chauvin, (Calvin,) 
who doffing the butcher's apron, threw Michel 
Servet into the flames, so often kindled for him- 
self: of Viret, a printer of Rouen; of Farel, of 
Beza, of Crepin, who were not priests, had never 
been ordained by any one. They could not, 
therefore, give the Holy Ghost, whom they did 
not possess, — and you are but bastards." 

" Though spread through the whole world, the 
Church," .writes St. Irenasus, " preserves the 
apostolic faith with extreme zeal, as if it inhab- 
ited one only house. She believes it as having 
but one spirit and one heart : and by an admira- 
ble consent, she professes and teaches the same 
faith, as having but one mouth. For though the 
languages of the world are different, the faith is 
everywhere the same. The Churches of Ger- 
many, of Gaul, of the East, of Egypt, do not 
think or teach differently."* 

The Church is holy. Her Head, the author 
and finisher of our faith, is the principle of holi- 
ness. His Apostles, inspired by the Holy Ghost, 
and commissioned by Christ, were holy. The 
doctrines and morals which they taught are holy. 
The primitive Christians, and martyrs who shed 

* Mv. hier.l. 1. 
21* 



246 THE ROMAN CATHOLIC 

their blood in testimony of their faith, were 
holy. 

That she is Catholic, the whole world testifies, 
all ages bear witness. Europe is crowded with 
her children, from one sea to the other ; and all 
nations are the heritage of her divine Founder. 
His reign is unbounded. Under the banners of 
His cross the islands exult, and the continents are 
glad. From the dawn of the aurora to the far off 
regions of the setting sun, the name of the Lord 
is great among the nations, and to Him, in every 
place, the clean and perpetual sacrifice is offered. 

a As there is but one episcopacy," writes St. 
Cyprian, " so there is but one Church spread 
through a vast multitude of members that com- 
pose it. As we see emanating from the sun num- 
berless rays, while there is but one centre of 
light ; from the trunk of a tree are many branches 
while there is but one trunk strongly cleaving 
with its roots to the earth ; from one source di- 
vers streams of water gush, which meander back 
to the same origin ; such is the image of the 
Church. The divine light which penetrates it, 
embraces in its rays the entire world, but they 
emanate from one and the same point which dis- 
tributes its lustre in all places: her inexhaustible 
fecundity propagates her branches through all the 



AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 247 

earth. She pours forth to distant climes her abun- 
dant waters: yet, everywhere the same principle, 
everywhere the same origin, everywhere manifest- 
ing her strength by the number of her children."* 

From the fact of her having been founded on 
the Apostles, (the corner-stone being Christ,) the 
Church is apostolic. She has ever professed, 
and to the end of time shall profess, the doctrine 
of the Apostles. 

She is styled Roman, because the See of the 
successors of Peter, is at Rome. His Chair, 
we know, was first established at Antioch, then 
the capital of the East ; but afterwards trans- 
ferred to Rome, the metropolis of the West. 
All Christian antiquity has recognised the founda- 
tion of these two Churches by St. Peter ; that 
he governed both successively ; and that he re- 
ceived the crow r n of martyrdom, at Rome, in the 
reign of Nero. All this is incontestable. 

It is called the Chair, (Cathedra,) not the 
throne of Peter, because he and his successors 
were to be the humble imitators of Christ. The 
first among the brethren, they were to be, in some 
sense, the last. For this reason the popes have 
assumed the appellation of the servants of the ser- 
vants of God. 

* De Unit. Eccles. 



248 THE ROMAN CATHOLIC 

The Church has not been injured or materially 
affected by the conspiracies, violence, or defec- 
tions of men and nations. She is secured against 
all dangers by the infallible promise of her Foun- 
der. With the Testament of Christ in one hand 
and the history of nations in the other, she sees, 
with ever-increasing admiration, the events and 
facts of history ranging themselves under the 
prophecies which appertain to her, as under the 
indefectible empire which governs them. Two 
hundred and fifty-seven Pontiffs have filled the 
Apostolic Chair, from Peter down to the glory 
and ornament of our age — Pius IX. " The 
Church," in the language of Lahure, " knows 
the past, and judges of the future. She is ac- 
quainted with the arts of human speech, unveils 
the bad faith of sophistry, forsees times and pro- 
digies before they arrive, and she will continue 
on earth a perpetual struggle, until she is crowned 
in heaven, with the everlasting garland of vic- 
tory." 

Infallibility in all that relates to faith and 
morals has been promised by Christ, to the body 
of Pastors : this prerogative rests not on their 
wisdom or learning, or virtues ; it is supernatural, 
and the result of the continued assistance of the 
Holy Spirit : " I am with you all days to the con- 



AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 249 

summation of the world." Here is the divine 
and solemn pledge of the Eternal Word Himself. 

" The Catholic priests," writes the judicious 
Droz, " are accused of intolerance : but that ac- 
cusation would cease, if the public were better 
acquainted with the principles of the Church, 
and the motives which actuate the clergy under 
certain circumstances." 

This hue and cry against the influence and in- 
tolerance of the clergy is very often raised by 
men, as a pretext for their own religious indiffer- 
ence, and want of faith. Priests and bishops 
are human beings ; and far from being impecca- 
ble. Most of them are faithful to their sacred 
vocation : some there may be w T hose lives are not 
in accordance with the sanctity of their character. 
But let the eloquent Chateaubriand speak on this 
subject : " If formerly the Church was poor from 
the last grade up to the first, it was because 
Christianity was indigent, like herself. But the 
clergy were not expected to be in poverty when 
opulence surrounded her. They would, in that 
case, have lost all consideration in society, and 
certain classes would have been out of the reach 
of their moral influence. 

" The Head of the Church was a prince, to 
speak to princes. The bishops ranking with the 



250 THE ROMAN CATHOLIC 

great, dared instruct them in their duties. The 
priests, above the necessities of life, mingled with 
the rich, whose morals they chastened ; and the 
simple cure associated with the poor, whom he 
assisted with his charity, and consoled by his 
example. 

" The simplicity of heart, holiness of life, evan- 
gelical poverty, and charity of Jesus Christ, have 
formed one of the most respectable orders of the 
nation. Which of us, proud philosophers, would 
be willing, during the rigors of the winter, to be 
roused up at midnight, in order to administer the 
last sacraments to some peasant dying on straw 
in the distant country. Which of us would be 
willing to have his heart broken with the spec- 
tacle of misery he cannot relieve, to be sur- 
rounded with a family whose hollow jaws and 
sunken eyes speak the starvation under which 
they are languishing. Would be satisfied to fol- 
low the curates of Paris ! — those angels of hu- 
, manity — into the habitations of crime, and sor- 
row, there to console vice, under the most dis- 
gusting shapes, and to breathe hope into the de- 
spairing heart ? Which of us, in fine, would 
wish to separate himself from the world of the 
happy, to live incessantly, in the midst of suffer- 
ing, and at death, to receive no reward, for all 



AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 251 

these deeds of charity and zeal, but the ingrati- 
tude of the poor, and the calumny of the rich ?" 
The authority of the Church is divine, because 
she transmits the divine word of which she is the 
depository, and because she has a divine mission 
to transmit it : and if we add to that inherent 
authority, the free adhesion to it, the deference 
and respect of all men who have believed in God, 
and in the Messiah, we will have a very imposing 
human authority in favor of her doctrines, and 
morality. We must believe, then, that the 
Church founded by Christ, organized by his 
Apostles, illustrated by his martyrs, defended by 
the greatest geniuses, signalized by the devotion to 
it of so many holy personages, is truly the school 
of the children of God upon earth, or their guide 
towards a more noble state, towards a life more 
pure. That Church is the work of the Eternal, 
and like Him, everlasting. Voltaire has said : 

" The works of men are fragile as themselves : 
God dissipates, at will, their proud designs ; 
He always stable is, and He alone ; 
In vain their malice would attempt to sap 
The structure of the Holy City : He 
Its blest foundations ever will sustain — 
Triumphant over hell and over time." 

44 There is nothing more sublime," says Bos- 
suet, u nor more divine, in the person of Jesus 



252 



THE ROMAN CATHOLIC 



Christ, than his having predicted, on one side, 
that His Church should never cease to be attacked, 
either by the persecutions of the world, or by 
the schisms and heresies that should constantly 
spring up, or by the relaxation of discipline and 
morals: and on the other, that in spite of all 
these contradictions, that Church should always 
flourish, should always have pastors, who would 
hand down from one to another the authority of 
Jesus Christ and the Apostles, sound doctrine, 

and the holy Sacraments This is what he 

promised to the work of the twelve fishermen."* 

" I am a Christian," says Diderot, " because 
it is reasonable to be one. I was born in the 
Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church, and with 
all my strength, I submit to her decisions."f 

" I am a Christian and a Catholic," Voltaire 
solemnly declared. And he adds: " If ever one 
page was printed under my name that could 
scandalize the sacristan of a parish, I am ready 
to tear it to pieces. I wish to live and die tran- 
quilly in the bosom of the Catholic, Apostolic, 
and Roman Church, without attacking any one, 
without offending any one. I detest anything that 
might give the least trouble to society."! 

* Instr. past. f P ers - Philosph. 

t Lettre au Pere de la Tour, 7 Fev. 174G. 



AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 253 

" There are, certainly, in the Church, as in the 
world, good and bad, vices and virtues," writes 
Marmontel. u This must be acknowledged. 
It is also true, that the good is so little, and the 
bad so extensive, that the latter seems to stifle 
the former. But if there was as strong an incli- 
nation for good as there is for evil, if good ex- 
amples were as much lauded as bad, could there 
be any doubt that the balance would be in its fa- 
vor ? Praise speaks in so low a voice, and cen- 
sure in so loud, that the latter only is heard, 
Esteem and friendship are commonly moderate 
in their eulogies : they imitate the modesty of 
well-bred men in their approval, whereas resent- 
ment and prejudice exaggerate to excess. Thus, 
the good is seen only through a medium that 
diminishes it, and evil through one that mag- 
nifies." 

"If among such a multitude of bishops," says 
Voltaire, " some have led a life unw r orthy of 
their state, it is certain, that there are, among the 
clergy, truly upright souls ; wise and charitable 
bishops and cures. The body of the bishops of 
France is composed of men of quality, who think 
and act with a nobility worthy their birth ; they 
are charitable and generous."* 

* Essai sur les Maurs. 

22 



254 THE ROMAN CATHOLIC 

And Rousseau : " If the Catholics, without 
wasting their time in combatting the arguments 
alleged by their adversaries, were to confine 
themselves to dispute their right to preach and 
teach, they would embarrass them much. See, 
would they say, how unjust you are; you agree 
that miracles are necessary to authorize a divine 
mission, and yet you, private individuals, come 
and speak to us as the ambassadors^ of God ! 
What title have you to submit our common judg- 
ment to your particular opinion. You dogmatize, 
preach, censure, anathematize, excommunicate, 
punish, put to death, exercise the authority of pro- 
phets, and, nevertheless, only present yourselves 
as individuals. Either cease to speak and act as 
apostles, or else show us your titles. To this 
what have our reformers to reply ? For myself, 
I see not. I am of opinion that they must either 
hold their tongues, or perform miracles.' 5 * 

With this remarkable declaration of Rousseau, 
Voltaire agrees in the following passage : " The 
Church could not have been established without 
a miracle. . . . Religion has subsisted, as all ac- 
knowledge, four thousand years : the sects are of 
yesterday. I am forced to believe and admire. 
. . . Men cannot destroy what God has made. . . . 

* Letire de la Mont, 



AND APOSTOLfC CHURCH. 255 

Religion is the Colossus which a hundred strokes 
of the battering-ram cannot shake : do you think 
that a pebble can level it with the ground ?" 
And again he sings : 

" When Calvinism first appeared in France. 
I saw it weak, and, with slow steps advance : 
Base in its origin, and wrapt in shade, 
Within four walls confined, and without aid ; 
I saw it, through a hundred ways, at first, 
Obscurely creeping : till, at length, it burst — 
A frightful phantom — on my startled eye, 
Then reared its proud and hideous head on high, 
Seized on a throne, on prostrate mortals trod, 
And overturned the altars of our God. 
Far from the court, beneath this grot obscure, 
The wrongs of my religion I deplore : 
One hope consoles my days declining fast ; 
This upstart worship cannot always last : 
From men's caprices it has drawn its birth — 
And as it came, so shall it leave the earth." 

We confound those who have strayed from the 
path of truth, by showing them the doctrine 
which was given by the Apostles to the Church 
of Rome. Thus did St. Iren^us write sixteen 
hundred years ago : " The Church of Rome, 5 ' 
he adds, " is the greatest, and the best known in 
all the world ; it was founded by the glorious 
Apostles Peter and Paul .... and the faith which 
they announced, has come down to us by the sue- 



256 THE ROMAN CATHOLIC 

cession of bishops We must take lessons 

from the place where the Lord hath placed his 
gifts ; and they who possess the gifts of the Lord, 
are the successors of the Apostles, and these suc- 
cessors preserve the unalterable language of truth, 
the certain intelligence of the Scriptures." 

" Let heretics," says Tertullian, " show us 
the origin of their churches, let them designate 
the catalogue of their bishops,* and make us see 
their order and succession, from the beginning : 
so that the first of their bishops may have some 
one of the Apostles, or of the Apostolic men 
who lived with them for their founders and prede- 
cessors : for, it is in this manner, that the Church 
of Rome traces the origin of her bishops to St. 
Peter, who ordained Levi to succeed him."* 

And St. Augustine : " Donatists, count, if you 
can, your bishops from the See of St. Peter, and 
let us see how they have succeeded one another : 
for this is the rock which the haughty gates of hell 
cannot overturn. Many considerations keep me 
in the Church: the consent of people and nations, 
authority commenced by miracles, nourished by 
hope, augmented by charity, fortified by antiquity. 
I am kept in it, by the continual succession of 
bishops, from that Apostle to whom Christ con- 

* De prescript. Cap. iii. 



AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 257 

fided the government of his sheep ; I am kept in 
it, by the name Catholic, which has belonged 
so properly to this Church to the exclusion of all 
heretical sects, that, although all heretics wish to 
pass as Catholics, yet when a stranger enquires 
for the assembly of Catholics, none of these 
heretics will presume to point out his temple." 

Again : " After all the proofs that we have 
adduced in support of the Catholic religion, we 
should not hesitate to throw ourselves into the 
bosom of that Church, which, by a continued 
succession of bishops, since the Chair of St. Peter 
was established, has always preserved, down to 
the present time, the authority which she received 
from Jesus Christ."* 

St. Cyprian expresses himself with equal 
force and clearness : " After his resurrection, 
the Saviour said to Peter: Feed my lambs, feed 
my sheep. On him He built His Church, and 
consigned to him the government of the flock. 
And although He confers on all the Apostles an 
equal power to forgive sins, when He said : re- 
ceive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins you shall for- 
give, &c, nevertheless, to make unity clear, He 
erected one Chair, and established, by His power, 
that unity, in the unity of one Head. In vain 

* De Unit, Bed. 

99* 



258 THE ROMAN CATHOLIC 

would one believe himself faithful, if he did not 
cleave to this unity. Cut off the branch from the 
tree, and that branch cannot produce any more 
fruit ; cut off the stream from its source, and it 
will soon cease to flow. He who resists the 
Church, and abandons the Chair of St. Peter, on 
which the Church is founded, must not believe 
that he is in the Church, the unity of which St. 
Paul characterised when he said : there is but 
one body and one soul. . . . This Church is the 
mother of the faithful : she gives us birth in Jesus 
Christ, nourishes us with her doctrine, and makes 
us live by her Spirit."* 

" The Church by her missions," writes Buf- 
fon, "has done more to subjugate barbarous na- 
tions than the victorious armies of princes. Par- 
aguay was conquered in this manner: the mildness, 
good example, charity, and the exercise of virtue 
constantly practised by the missionaries, touched 
the savages and overcame their ferocity. They 
came, of their own accord, to ask for the law 
which rendered men so perfect ; they submitted 
to that law, and lived together in society. Nothing 
reflects more honor on religion than her having 
civilized those nations, and laid the foundations of 

* De Unit. Eccles. 



AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 259 

an empire, without any other arms than those of 
virtue."* 

How different this Church from the religion of 
Protestantism! She always the same, true, and 
indestructible, as her name Catholic and Apostolic 
designates and proves. Hear the candid avowal 
made by a learned Protestant professor : " The 
Protestant religion is entirely dissolved by the 
multiplicity of Confessions of Faith and sects 

that have been formed since the reformation 

Not only the external polity of our Church has un- 
dergone innumerable subdivisions, but it is dis- 
united, and divided interiorly in its essentials and 
opinions."-)* 

" The Reformation," another Protestant pro- 
fessor acknowledged in 1835, " in its separated 
Churches, and spiritual power, resembles a worm 
cut into extremely small portions, all of which 
continue to move along as they retain the power 
of motion, but which gradually lose that power 
and die away. "J 

Rheinard had before remarked, that " If Lu- 
ther were to rise from the grave, it would be im- 
possible for him to recognise his own, or even as 
members of the society he has founded, those 

* Hist. Nat. Tom. vi, ed. in 12mo. 
t Welle, les Protestants, 1S28. % Eglises Chreliennes. 



260 THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, &C. 

Apostles, who, in our Church, are considered his 
successors."* 

Another minister has said, that " Disunion 
among the pastors gives rise to the greatest con- 
fusion in the heads and hearts of the people. 
They listen, they read, but they no longer know- 
where they are, what they should believe, or what 
follow."f 

" I could write on my thumb-nail," said Harms, 
a minister at Kiel, " all the doctrines which are 
now generally believed by Protestants." 

And Schmaltz, a Prussian jurisconsult : " In 
consequence of reforming and protesting, Pro- 
testantism has been reduced to the level of a zero, 
before which there is no cypher." 

From these authorities, and from what has been 
said in this chapter, we may justly conclude, in 
the language of Lahure, that u Protestantism is 
clearly not a religion, but the negation of all re- 
ligion ; it is the principal cause of all the calami- 
ties that have overwhelmed Europe ; it is, there- 
fore, not truth ; for truth, says Rousseau, is never 
injurious." 

* Discours sur VEglise, 1800, f Ludke, 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD. 

No dignity can be more exalted than that of 
the priesthood. The duties of the clergy are as 
holy as they are important, and their lives should 
be examples of virtue and holiness to the laity. 
The eyes of the world are fixed upon them, and 
the truth of a doctrine is, in the present age, as it 
was in the days of Tertullian who makes the 
remark, judged of by the morals of those who 
call themselves its Apostles. A bad priest is a 
scandal, and a stumbling-block, to men ; a good 
priest is a guide, an example, and a shining bea- 
con. 

The Catholic priest derives his light, his wis- 
dom, and his zeal, from the Holy Scriptures, from 
tradition, and from the Councils and Fathers of 
the Church. He seeks the glory of God, by 
making Him known and causing Him to be loved 
and adored ; he contributes to the salvation of 
men by instructing and edifying them ; he is a 
stranger to fear, prejudices, or despondency; 
conquers all difficulties, sacrifices his very affec- 



262 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD. 

tions, overcomes his natural propensities, and 
places all his confidence in the sanctity of his 
ministry and the power of his faith. 

" Such a priest," in the language of Hermann 
Jansens, " animated by the spirit of divine faith, 
will silence, by his example, the calumnies, false- 
hoods, and railleries, of the enemies of the Cath- 
olic Church. He will destroy that fatal idea, 
which, in our unhappy age, has taken possession 
of so many persons, that the priests preach in 
one way, and act in another : that they have 
entered upon the ecclesiastical state only to lead a 

more easy life He will prove by his conduct, 

that he has enlisted under the banners of the 
Church of Christ, only to labor for his moral per- 
fection, and that of his brethren ; to entice them 
into the way which leads to eternal felicity, to 
manifest to men the will of the Supreme Being, 
to propagate the true faith, to prevent or diminish 
evil, to present, by his good example, to all who 
approach him, a living image of Jesus Christ, to 
co-operate in an effectual manner, in their salva- 
tion, by a zealous and judicious administration of 
holy things. He will be superior to all worldly 
passions, he will cultivate, with ardor, the talents 
which God has entrusted to him, and will endea- 
vor to make a beneficial use of them. Profoundly 



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD. 263 

convinced of the truth of God's promises and of 
His inexhaustible munificence, he looks to heaven, 
and not to the earth, for the reward of his labors 
and sufferings " 

The celibacy of the clergy is a discipline that 
has been vehemently objected toby the opponents 
of the Catholic Church. On this head the senti- 
ments of Portalis deserve the particular atten- 
tion of the reader : a The prohibition of mar- 
riage among the Catholic Clergy is connected 
with many important considerations. Men con- 
secrated to the Divinity should be honored ; and, 
in a religion which requires in them a certain 
bodily purity, they should carefully abstain from 
everything that could create a suspicion against 
it. The Catholic worship demands uninterrupted 
labor, and continual attention. It has been deemed 
proper to free her ministers from the embarrass- 
ments of a family. In the regulations appertain- 
ing to the morals of the priesthood, whatever bears 
the character of severity is loved and admired ; this 
has been made apparent in modern times, by the 
little confidence that is manifested towards married 
priests." 

The mission of the Priest among the people, 
and the duties which he is called to discharge in 
society, require that he should be surrounded 



264 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD. 

with respect and consideration. Where there is 
not respect, there will be familiarity ; and famili- 
arity, too often, breeds contempt. In order to in- 
spire respect, the priest must be grave, virtuous, 
charitable, and devoted to the salvation of souls. 
But with a family, could he perform the duties of 
his calling, as faithfully and assiduously, as with- 
out one ? Would not the solicitude for the things 
of this world interfere with his spiritual and 
heavenly vocation ? St. Paul has answered this 
question. 

After condemning the celibacy of the clergy, 
the enemies of the Church scrutinize and rashly 
judge all the actions of the ministers of the altar: 
and exult over truth and virtue, if all are not 
found exempt even from the slightest imperfec- 
tions. How often must we repeat, that the priest, 
by entering the sanctuary, does not cease to be a 
human being ? But why rejoice in his foibles, or 
triumph over his errors — and not take into con- 
sideration his usefulness, his devotion, his virtues? 
Why forget his charity to the poor, his protec- 
tion of the orphan, his sympathy for the suffering, 
his zeal for the welfare, temporal and spiritual, of 
all who are entrusted to his pastoral care ? 

" The incredulous," writes Damiron, " accuse 
the priest of making a trade of his profession ; 



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD. 265 

of preaching, for his own profit, a faith which he 
does not believe. This is a great error. . . . The 
priest is like the people, he believes like the peo- 
ple, he is the people, with the exception of a 
sentiment more lively, or a study more profound, 
of the truths of religion. . . . He is more religious 
than most of men, he becomes the interpreter of 
public opinion ; his existence is a natural fact in 
society, as is that of every man whose genius and 
circumstances entitle him to be, in some respect, 
the representative, and, as it were, the expression 
of men with whom he lives." 

And De Lamennais: "A priest is, by duty, 
the friend, the living providence of the miserable, 
the consoler of the afflicted, the defender of the 
defenceless, the staff of the widow, the father of 
the orphan, the repairer of all the disorders and 
evils which your passions and pernicious doctrines 
engender. His entire life is but a long and heroic 
devotion to the welfare of his fellow-beings. 
Who among you would consent to sacrifice, as 
he does, domestic joys, all the gratifications and 
pleasures which men so greedily seek after, for 
the obscure duties, painful labors, and fatiguing 
functions, the practice of which wastes his heart, 
and disgusts his senses? While you are still ab- 
sorbed in profound sleep, that man of charity, 
23 



266 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD, 

anticipating the aurora, has recommenced his 
career of benevolent deeds ; he has assisted the 
poor, visited the sick, wiped away the tears of 
the unfortunate, instructed the ignorant, strength- 
ened the weak, and fortified in virtue souls as- 
sailed by the tempest of the passions. After a 
day spent in the performance of such works, even- 
ing arrives, but brings not repose. At the hour 
when pleasure leads you to the theatre, or the 
festival, he is called for in great haste : a Chris- 
tian is approaching his last moments, he is dying, 
perhaps of an infectious disease; no matter : the 
good shepherd will not let his sheep expire with- 
out soothing his anguish, without surrounding him 
with the consolations of hope and faith, without 
praying by his side to that God who died for him, 
and who gives him, at this instant, in the sacra- 
ment of love, a certain pledge of immortality. 
Such is the true priest — not such as, judging from 
some scandalous exceptions, your aversion is 
pleased to fancy, but such as he exists amongst us." 
u There is a man in every parish," whites the 
eloquent Lamartitne, " who has no family, but is 
of the family of all the world. Who is called 
upon as a witness, counsellor, or agent, in all the 
most solemn acts of civil life : without whom we 
cannot be born, or die ; who takes man from his 



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD. 267 

mother's womb, and only leaves him at the grave: 
who blesses or consecrates the cradle, the conju- 
gal couch, the death-bed and the bier : a man 
whom little children love, venerate, and fear; 
whom strangers style father; at whose feet Chris- 
tians come to pour out their most intimate desires, 
their most secret tears. A man, who is the con- 
soler, by profession, of all the miseries of soul 
and body, the intermediary between riches and 
indigence ; who sees the rich and the poor rap, by 
turns, at his door : the rich to give their private 
alms, the poor to receive them without fear of 
shame; who, being of no social rank, belongs 
equally to all classes ; to the inferior by the pov- 
erty of his life, and often by the humility of his 
birth, to the higher by his education, knowledge, 
elevation of sentiments which a philanthrophic 
religion inspires and commands : a man, in fine, 
who knows everything, who has a right to say 
anything, and whose words fall from on high upon 
the mind and heart, with the authority of a di- 
vine mission, and the empire of a faith profound. 
This man is the Cure. No one can do more good 
or harm to men, according as he fulfils or neglects 
his high social mission. 

" What is a Cure ? He is the minister of the re- 
ligion of Christ, charged to preserve its dogmas, 



268 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD. 

propagate its morality, and administer its blessings 
to the portion of the flock confided to his charge. 
From these three functions of the priesthood, re- 
sult the three qualities under which we are about 
considering the Cure: that is to say, as Priest, as 
moralist, and spiritual administrator of Christi- 
anity among the people. . . . 

" As Priest, or preserver of the Christian dog- 
mas, the duties of the Cure fall not within the 
reach of our examination. Dogmas, mysterious 
and divine in their nature, imposed by revelation, 
accepted by faith, that virtue of human ignorance, 
defy all criticism. The priest is accountable 
for them, as each of the faithful, to his conscience, 
and his church, the only authority which he ac- 
knowledges. Nevertheless, even here the high 
intellect of the priest can have a useful influence, 
in practice, on the religion of the people, whom 
he instructs 

u The priest, then, holds in his hands all moral, 
all reason, all civilization, when he holds that book 
which he has merely to open and read, and shed 
around the treasures of light and perfection, of 
which Providence has given him the key. But, 
like that of Christ, his teaching should be two- 
fold — by his own life as well as by his words. 
His life should be, as far as human infirmity will 



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD. 269 

permit, the practical explanation of his doctrine, 
a living word ! The church holds him up more 
as an example than an oracle : words may fail if 
nature has not bestowed on him the gift of elo- 
quence, but the eloquence which all are made to 
hear, is an exemplary life. No human language 
is as eloquent or persuasive as one virtue. 

" The priest is, likewise, the spiritual adminis- 
trator of the sacraments of the church, and of the 
works of his charity. His duties, in this respect, 
are similar to those which every administration 
imposes. He has to act with men ; he must know 
men. He deals with human passions, he should 
deal meekly and delicately, with great prudence 
and discretion. His ministrations extend to the 
faults, the regrets, the miseries, the necessities, 
the wants of humanity : his heart should be filled 
with tolerance, mercy, meekness, compassion, 
charity, forgiveness. His door should be always 
open to those who knock at it, his lamp always 
burning, his staff always in his hand. He must 
know nothing of seasons, of distances, of conta- 
gions, of heat, of snows, when his duty requires 
him to carry oil to the wounded, pardon to the 
guilty, or his God, in the Eucharist, to the dying. 
Before him, as before God, there are neither 
rich nor poor, small nor great, but men — that is 
23* 



270 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD. 

brothers in misery and in hope. But if he should 
refuse his ministry to none, he cannot impru- 
dently offer it to those who disdain or despise it. 

"He dies; a stone without a name, perhaps, 
marks his resting place in the cemetery, near the 
door of his church. His life is over — the man is 
forgotten forever ! But that man is gone to eter- 
nal rest : he did here below what was best to be 
done : he has continued an eternal dogma; he has 
formed a link in the immense chain of faith and 
virtue, and has left to generations to come, a belief, 
a law, a God." 

" Impiety alone," writes Diderot, " distils its 
gall against the celibacy which Christianity coun- 
sels in a certain order, for greater perfection. 
The celibacy that merits such reproaches, and 
against which it is not lawful to be silent, is that 
which, says the author of the Esprit des lois, is 

formed by libertinism Against this all the 

rigor of the law should be directed, because, 
as that celebrated author remarks, it is a rule of 
nature, that the greater the number of marriages 
that may be made lawfully, the more corrupt 

are those that are made But in what can the 

celibacy adopted by Christianity be prejudicial to 
society ? It has deprived society, it is true, of 
some citizens, but they who are taken from it to 



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD. 271 

be given to God, labor to form for it virtuous 
citizens, and to engrave on their hearts the great 
principle of dependence and submission to them, 
whom God has placed at their head. It takes 
from them the cares of a family and civil con- 
cerns, only that they may occupy themselves more 
sedulously in the support of religion that cannot 
change, or trouble the repose and harmony of the 
state. Moreover, the blessings which Christianity 
bestows on society are sufficiently great, and mul- 
tiplied, to envy it the continency which it imposes 
upon her ministers, in order that their bodily 
purity may render them more worthy to approach 
the places where the Divinity resides. This 
would be as if some were to complain of the lib- 
eralities of nature, because in the rich profusion 
of grain she produces there are some parts that 
continue sterile."* 

The most celebrated and most correct Protes- 
tant historian of modem Germany, sumamed the 
father of German history, does not hesitate to 
affirm that " taking all things together, it was to 
the celibacy of the clergy that we are indebted 
for all we most prize : intelligence, culture of the 
mind, and the progress of the human race."f 

* Encyc. Art. Christianisme. 

f Luden. Hist, dupeuple Allem^ vol. 8. 



272 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD. 

" Is Europe a desert," asks Chateaubriand, 
" because the Catholic clergy make a vow of celi- 
bacy ? The monasteries are favorable to society, 
because the religious, by consuming their produce 
on the spot, carry abundance into the cabins of 
the poor. Where were to be seen in France a 
well-dressed peasantry, and laborers whose coun- 
tenances bespoke plenty and joy, if not in the rich 
dependency of some abbey ? . . . . 

"It appears to be pretty well demonstrated, 
that there should be men, who, separated from the 
rest of the world, and clothed with an august 
character, may, without children, without wife, 
without the perplexities of life, labor for the ad- 
vancement of light, the perfection of morality, and 
the consolation of the afflicted. What miracles 
have not our priests and religious effected in so- 
ciety, under this three-fold head ? . . . This is what 
we had to answer to the objection of moralists on 
the subject of the celibacy of the priests."* 

* Genie du Christianisme, chap. 8. 




CHAPTER XXXI. 

SUPERSTITION. 

Superstition is a false idea of religion; the 
substitution of vain practices in lieu of the en- 
lightened observances of ceremonies ; ungrounded 
prestiges conjured up from fortuitous circum- 
stances, by a sickly imagination ; a blind, er- 
roneous, excessive belief, the mere result of the 
sentiments of the heart, for the time being, and 
producing, just as the mind is disposed, fear or 
respect, and accordingly influencing the external 
conduct of its votaries. 

In all ages of the world, people have been 
swayed by superstitious influences. Under the 
empire of polytheism, necromancy prevailed to 
such an extent, that the priests of the temples 
sought for auguries in the palpitating entrails of 
beasts and of their fellow-beings. Even the an- 
cient sages were not free from superstition : Sen- 
eca and Pliny believed in dreams and omens. In 
modern times, there are many individuals ridicu- 
lously superstitious, attributing good or bad luck 
to certain days, certain numbers, and certain acci- 
dents. 



274 SUPERSTITION. 

It is not impossible to be, at the same time, im- 
pious and superstitious. Diderot and D'Alembert 
believed in witchcraft. Hobbes was so afraid of 
ghosts, that he would not sleep alone. D'Argens 
would not dine at a table with thirteen persons. 
Many other philosophers believed in sylphs, 
gnomes, and all the absurdities of the cabalistic 
art. 

Religion and superstition are so essentially 
heterogeneous, that there can be no fusion of one 
with the other. The religion of Christ inspires 
love, and charity, and condemns all absurd, ridicu- 
lous, or revolting practices. " It is impossible," 
says Voltaire, " to be mistaken with regard to 
the characters of religion and superstition. The 
truty religious man will always take as a rule of 
his conduct the Gospel, that sacred code, that in- 
variable and imperishable law, that truth which 
cannot deceive him, but which elevates his heart 
above all human weaknesses. On the contrary, 
the raving imagination of the superstitious con- 
ceals the truth from him, and often causes him to 
trample sound morality under his feet. 

" Religion, you will say, has produced many 
crimes ; call it superstition that has reigned over 
our melancholy globe ; call it fanaticism, the most 
cruel enemy of the worship due to God. Let us 



SUPERSTITION. 275 

hold in detestation those monsters who have torn 

to pieces the breast of their mother They 

are serpents which wind their folds around re- 
ligion: we must crush their heads, without wound- 
ing her, whom they infest and devour."* 

Again: " Superstition is the delirium of false 
piety. Fanaticism is the frenzy of zeal. One is 
the malady of weak, the other of violent, minds. 
Both outrage religion, one by its fears and terrors, 
the other by its fury. Both are the redoubtable 
enemies of humanity, as well as of Christianity, 
which, by its nature, is equally removed from the 
fury of fanaticism, and the imbecile fears of su- 
perstition.'^ 

" Before the promulgation of the Gospel," he 
adds, " the most senseless superstitions had stifled 
the voice of reason. Superstition that proceeds 
from men, appeared to triumph over reason, the 
gift of God. But it is the glory of revealed re- 
ligion, or the Gospel, to have destroyed all the 
superstitions of the earth. We must love re- 
ligion and serve God, in spite of the clamors of 
hypocrites, in spite of the superstitions which 
sometimes dishonor his worship. I have always 
distinguished from religion the miseries which 
superstition has occasioned. . . . Superstition is to 
• Tom. 50. t Encyc. Art. Christianisme. 



276 SUPERSTITION. 

religion what astrology is to astronomy : the very 
foolish daughter of a very wise mother."* 

Rousseau has well remarked, that " we can- 
not too strongly attack superstition which has 
troubled society, nor respect, too much, religion 
that sustains it."f 

And MoNTEsauiEU : " Superstition debases 
the mind as much as religion elevates it." 

* Quasi. Tom. 2. f Tom. 23. 




CHAPTER XXXII. 

F ANAT I C I SM. 

Fanaticism is a monstrous, an infernal Proteus, 
which assumes all sorts of shapes on earth. The 
fanatic is an unreasonable being, who acts without 
a single correct idea of religion, but makes her 
holy name the pretext of his phrenzy. Religion 
spurns such a man from her communion, and yet, 
in his awful hallucination, he deems himself ac- 
tuated by zeal for God's glory, and gives unre- 
strained vent to his extravagant passions, claiming 
now the privilege of visions, now the gift of super- 
natual inspirations, and even of prophecy. He 
exclaims with the emperor Vespasian : "I am 6e- 
coming a God /"* 

The fanatic must not be confounded with the 
whining hypocrite, who, notwithstanding his pro- 
tracted prayers, ostentatious alms, and pretended 
piety, is, in the divine language of the author of 
true religion, a whitened sepulchre, who makes 
a cloak of religion for the purpose of attaining 
his ends, and who is thus depicted by the elo- 
quent muse of J. B. Rousseau : 

* lncipio Deus fieri. 

24 



278 FANATICISM. 

" Honest without, his language full of grace, 
Most rigid honor painted on his face, 
Humanity appears in all he saith, 
And equity, and candor, and good faith : 
His lips are rilled with flattery's sweetest balm, 
His cruelty is amiable and calm, 
To Heaven his earnest prayers appear to rise, 
His vanity moves on with down-cast eyes, 
With ardent zeal injustice marks her works, 
Voluptuousness beneath his hair-cloth lurks." 

The fanatic takes in their literal sense those 
words of Christ: I have not come to bring peace, 
but the sword, forgetting that the law of Christ is 
a law of peace reigning over willing hearts, and 
not subjugating them by force. It was fanati- 
cism, not religion, that occasioned, for example, 
the massacre of St. Bartholomew. On that fatal 
day, as in many other similar circumstances, the 
great and powerful of the earth made use of re- 
ligion as a cloak of their policy and ambition, the 
more effectually to deceive the people, and ac- 
complish their infamous projects. "Alas!" ex- 
claims Voltaire, " we have made even religion 
subservient to our ruin: but it is not her fault, 
because she inspires sweetness and patience, and 
teaches us to suffer and not to persecute." This 
doctrine is clearly enforced by St. Paul, in his 
second epistle to Timothy : " But the servant of 



FANATICISM. 279 

the Lord must not wrangle, but be mild towards 
all men, apt to teach, patient, with modesty ad- 
monishing them that resist the truth ; if perad- 
venture God may give them repentance to know 
the truth."* 

Not one passage in the Gospel can be pointed 
out authorising a Christian to persecute an infidel 
or skeptic. On the contrary, it commands, that 
all should be treated with charity and tolerance, 
and those who wander from the right way should 
be brought back by patience and mildness. The 
conscience may be penetrated by persuasion, 
never by violence. Christ did not say, like Ma- 
homet, Go, subdue all nations, but go, persuade 
all nations to receive the tidings of salvation, and 
to love one another. " Mahomet," says Pascal, 
11 propagated his error by putting to death ; Christ 
established his religion, by causing his followers 
to sacrifice themselves." Christ brought the sword, 
it is true; but only to be drawn against error and 
vice, never against individuals: for when Peter 
rashly used it in the garden of Gethsemani, he 
was commanded to put it up, for he who uses it 
must perish by it. 

What a contrast between religion and fanati- 
cism ! under the influence of the former man re- 

* Chap. ii. 24-25. 



280 FANATICISM. 

turns good for evil, and is always meek, indul- 
gent, charitable : he invokes God's mercy on the 
guilty, and acts in conformity with the saying of 
his divine master : / ivish not the death of a sin- 
ner, but that he be converted and live. Christiani- 
ty should be considered in her maxims and pre- 
cepts, and not in the abuses which wicked men 
may commit in her august name. " The author of 
the System of nature" writes Frederick, King 
of Prussia, "evinces a dryness of mind and very 
great unfairness, when he calumniates religion by 
imputing to it faults which it has not. How 
could he affirm with justice or probability, that 
religion is the cause of all the evils of man- 
kind ? Had he expressed himself properly he 
would have simply said, that the ambition and 
selfishness of men use religion for the purpose of 
troubling the world and satisfying their passions. 
What is there that can be honestly found fault 
with in the decalogue ! Did the gospel contain 
but this one precept, do not unto another what you 
would not wish to be done unto yourselves, we 
should be obliged to confess that those few words 
comprise all morality — were not pardon of inju- 
ries, charity, and humanity preached by Jesus 
Christ in his sermon on the mountain?" 

And Voltaire: "It would be wrong to at- 



FANATICISM. 281 

tribute to religion the disorders of the civil wars 
in France. The Prince de Conde wished to di- 
vide the kingdom : the Cardinal of Lorraine at 
the head of his house, wished to obtain the first 
place, and the Constable of Montmorenci, the 
enemy of the Lorraines, to preserve his power. 
The Colignys and other chiefs of the party 
proposed to resist the houses of Lorraine and 
Guise ; each sought to devour a part of the gov- 
ernment — God was their pretext — the fury of 
domination was their god, and the people were 
the instruments and victims of their ambition. 

Of what consequence are these facts, and so 
many others true or false ? There is but one answer 
to be given, that is decisive. Those bloody 
scenes, that fury, that cruelty, are they com- 
manded or condemned by the Gospel ? Is it from 
the altar of the lamb that those red hot fire-brands 
were taken to light the faggots that devoured so 
many victims, — whose numbers, however, are 
much exaggerated? The more sincerely we are 
Christians, the less do we follow nature so prone 
to violence, and the sallies of passion. They, 
then, were not Christians, who authorised murder 
and vengeance. If you wish to resemble Jesus 
Christ, be martyrs, and not executioners." 
24* 



282 FANATICISM. 

" Proud foe, compose thyself, be calm and see, 
What should the Christian's death, and duty be. 
Behold the difference 'twixt thy gods and mine : 
Murder and vengeance are enforced by thine ; 
Mine when thy arm is raised to lay me low 
Bids me to pity, and forgive my foe." * 

46 Nothing," writes St. Athanasius, " proves 
more clearly the weakness of a bad cause, as to 
use violence. The Saviour is so meek, that he 
contents himself by saying : if any one wishes to 
come after me. . . he who wishes to be my disciple. . . 
And when he comes to any of us, He does not 
use violence, but strikes at the door, saying : open 
my sister, my spouse. If the door is opened he 
enters : if not, he withdraws. For truth is not 
preached with the sword, or with darts, or by 
soldiers, but by counsel and persuasion."f 

" St. Martin," as Voltaire has remarked, 
"refused to communicate with those bishops who 
had demanded the blood of the heretic Priscillian : 
and openly declared that it was shameful to con- 
demn men to death because they erred."J " For, 
all zeal," in the language of St. Francis of 
Sales, " that is not charitable, proceeds from a 
piety that is not real." 

44 It is a crime," again Voltaire says, " not 

* Zaire traged. f Letter to the Solitaries. J Tom. 47. 



FANATICISM. 283 

to seize every opportunity to render fanaticism 
execrable. ... I have written against it — but the 
more inimical I am to that spirit of faction, of 
enthusiasm, and of rebellion, the more sincerely 
do I adore a religion whose morality makes one 
family of the human race, and whose practice is 
established on indulgence and good deeds. How 
could I not love religion who have always cele- 
brated it ? "* 

And in another place: " Germany was the the- 
atre of tragic scenes. Two fanatics named Storck 
and Muncer, Saxons by birth, wished children to 
be re-baptised, because Jesus Christ was bap- 
tised at an adult age. Hence their apellation of 
Anabaptists. They professed to be inspired to 
reform the Roman communion and Lutheranism, 
and menaced all who should oppose their gospel 
with death, founding their threat on the words of 
Christ : I" am not come to bring peace, but the 
sword. 

" Luther succeeded in arousing Princes, Lords 
and Magistrates against the Pope and Bishops : 
Muncer aroused the peasantry against them. He 
and his disciples addressed themselves to the in- 
habitants of the country-places of Suabia, Mis- 
nia, Thuringia, and Franconia. They developed 

* Lettre aux Academiciens. 



284 FANATICISM. 

that dangerous truth that lies in the hearts of all, 
that men are born free. . . .* 

" The cruelties we have seen exercised, by the 
Commons of France and England, in the days of 
Charles VI, and Henry V, were renewed in 
Germany, and in a more violent manner. Mun- 
cer, in preaching equality, seizes upon Mulhausen 
in Tburingia, and makes the inhabitants, in preach- 
ing disinterestedness, lay their riches at his feet. 
The peasantry rise, from Saxony to Alsace, 
massacre the higher classes, and strangle an ille- 
gitimate daughter of Maximilian I Muncer, 

w r ho wished to make himself a Mahomet, perish- 
ed at Mulhausen on the scaffold. Luther took 
no active part in these excesses, but gave, in 
spite of himself, the first impulse to them, as he 
w r as the first to break down the barrier of sub- 
mission. . . Blood had not yet flowed in Europe, 
in Luther's cause. The Anabaptists, transported 
by their blind zeal, and unintimidated by the fate 
of Muncer, their leader, desolated Germany in 
the name of God. Never had fanaticism reached 
such a pitch. All the peasants imagined them- 
selves prophets, and they who knew nothing of the 

* Certainly in the words and spirit of our Declaration of 
Independence, this maxim is true, and we, as Americans stand 
by it. But Muncer attempted to level all orders and classes ; 
which we do not approve of. Order must reign. 



FANATICISM. 285 

Scriptures, except that they should massacre with- 
out mercy, the enemies of the Lord, were the 
most violent in Westphalia, the land of their stu-* 
pidity. They took possession of Munster, and 
banished the bishop. They wished to establish 
the theocracy of the Jews, and be governed by 
God alone. But a man named Matthew, their 
principal prophet, having been killed, a tailor- 
boy, named John, born in Leyde, in Holland, 
declared that God had appeared to him and ap- 
pointed him King. He spoke, and was believed. 
The pomp of his coronation was magnificent. 
Coins in his honor, are yet to be seen. His ar- 
morial bearings were two swords in the same po- 
sition as the Keys of the Pope. Monarch and 
prophet, at once, he sent forth twelve apostles to 
announce his reign throughout all lower Germany. 
He had as many as six wives at a time. One of 
them, for having spoken against his authority, lost 
her head." 

A journal published in Paris, during the sway 
of infidelity and terror, makes the following 
avowal : " Every impartial man must acknow- 
ledge that religion has ever been guiltless of 
the wars and other evils imputed to her. What 
did she say to the primitive Christians? She 
said : stretch out your necks ! In the middle ages, 



286 FANATICISM. 

she said to the Lords : I forbid you to make your 
vassals fight, at least from Wednesday evening 
to Monday morning. Seeing that she could not 
restrain those barbarians, she precipitated them 
on the common enemy. In the conquest of Ame- 
rica, she did not cease to reclaim, by the mouth 
of Las-Casas, against the cruelties of Pizarro. 

Galileo is cited, condemned, and persecuted by 
the Inquisition, it is said, for having taught the 
motion of the earth. Happily it is now proved, 
by the letters of Guiccardini and the Marquess 
Nicolini, Ambassador from Florence, both 
friends, disciples, and protectors of Galileo, and 
by the manuscript letters of the philosopher him- 
self, that the public have, for the space of a cen- 
tury, been imposed upon in this fact. Galileo 
was not persecuted as a good philosopher and as- 
tronomer, but as a bad theologian, taking upon 
himself to explain the Bible. His discoveries 
made him, no doubt, many enemies; but it was 
his stubbornness in wishing to reconcile the sys- 
tem of Copernicus with the Bible that subjected 
him to censure, and his ow r n petulance was the 
cause of his chagrin. He was confined not in 
the prisons of the Inquisition, but in a public edi- 
fice, with full liberty to communicate without its 
walls. In his trials, there was no question of the 
foundation of his system, but of its reconciliability 



FANATICISM. 287 

with the Scriptures. After the sentence was 
pronounced and the retractation made, Galileo 
was free to return to Florence. For these partic- 
ulars we are indebted to a Protestant, Mallet-Du- 
pan, who, on the strength of original documents, 
has vindicated, in this case, the court of Rome."* 

" Every thing good has been abused," remarks 
Moliere. " It is not, therefore, surprising, that 
religion has been a cloak to cover the corruption 
of men. If wretches have abused piety, and have 
made it subservient to criminal deeds, we must 
make the necessary distinction, and do not con- 
found, by a false consequence, the goodness of 
things that are corrupted with the trade of its 
corrupters,"! 

We may conclude, then, with MoNTEsauiEU, 
that " it is reasoning badly against religion to 
amass together in a voluminous work the evils 
that have been produced when her spirit has 
been abused, and her maxims have been despised. 
Were I to rehearse the abuses of institutions the 
most necessary, I would tell a frightful tale ; and 
certainly, the longer those institutions have lasted, 
the more easy it would be to accumulate the 
frightful charges that might be made." J 

* Mercure du 17 Juillet, 17S4, No. 29. 
t Preface du Tartuffe. \ Esprit des lois, liv. 24. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

CHRISTIAN MORALITY. 

Without morality no one can be either a Chris- 
tian or a philosopher. Because there is no other 
proof of the love of revelation or of wisdom. Pa- 
gan antiquity, I am aware, boasts of her sages, 
her Socrates, Plato, Seneca, Cicero, and others : 
but those illustrious philosophers fell into the 
grossest errors and were guilty of great immoral- 
ities. Whereas, they whose minds and hearts 
have been illumined by the sublime wisdom of 
Christianity, have been models of the purest mo- 
rality. 

It were an error to suppose that morality is the 
effect of education, or of policy. Whatever may 
be the social condition of man, whether he be 
fortunate or miserable, he may, by observing the 
morality of the gospel, obtain true happiness. 
We do not believe with some superficial moral- 
ists, that happiness is ideal ; but that it consists 
in doing good to our fellow-beings, and bending, 
with resignation and hope, to the dispensations of 
Providence. Society could not exist without 



CHRISTIAN MORALITY. 289 

morality. Why are magistrates appointed ? why 
are laws decreed ? why are rewards and punish- 
ments proposed ? Because men are too apt to 
follow their reason only ; they are naturally dis- 
posed to fear and hope ; and the founders of na- 
tions have thought it important to put this dispo- 
sition to profit in order to conduct them to vir- 
tue and happiness. Morality, without positive 
precepts, would leave reason without a guide or 
rule: and morality without religious doctrines, 
would be justice without tribunals. .. "Reli- 
gious ideas" writes Portalis, "have contri- 
buted more than any thing else to the civilization 
of men . . . Among Christian nations, letters and 
the fine arts have always formed a gentle alliance 
with religion : it is religion that, by softening the 
soul and elevating it to the highest conceptions, 
has given a fresh impulse to talents. Religion 
has produced our first and most celebrated ora- 
tors, and furnished themes and models for poetry; 
she has given birth to music, directed the easel 
of the greatest painters, and the chisel of the 
greatest sculptors, and to her we are indebted for 
the most beautiful specimens of architecture. 

" Could we look upon, as irreconcilable with 
our lights, and manners,, a religion which a De- 
cartes, and a Newton venerated, and which has 
25 



290 CHRISTIAN MORALITY. 

developed the genius of a Pascal, or a Bossuet, 
and has formed a Fenelon ? 

" In morals, is it not the Christian religion that 
has transmitted to us the entire body of the natu- 
ral law ? Does not that religion teach us all 
that is just, holy, amiable. ... If the body of a 
nation, and minds the least instructed, and most 
simple, are now more enlightened than were for- 
merly a Plato or a Socrates, on the great truths 
of the unity of God, the immortality of the soul, 
and the existence of a future life, do we not owe 
all these blessings to religion ? " 

"Eclecticism," says Pierre Leroux, "has 
done great mischief in France : it enchains the 
mind, and, as Bacon declared, deprives the intel- 
lect of its powers. It stifles every religious, 
social, patriotic sentiment; it throws society and 
government into a lethargy and supine torpor . . . 
so that of it may be affirmed what Bacon said of 
skepticism : our country and humanity cry out 
against this odious philosophy" 

" I know not," writes Rousseau, " how the 
pure morality of our books can be attributed to 
the progress of philosophy : this morality is bor- 
rowed from the Gospel, and was Christian, ere it 
became philosophical." 

And Bayle : " Virtue and vice are two spe- 



CHRISTIAN MORALITY. 291 

cies of qualities, naturally and morally different; 
morality is an emanation from the sanctity of God ; 
which sanctity is right reason commanding good, 
and forbidding evil. Anteriorly to the divine 
law, moral truths imposed certain duties. "* 

Rollin remarks that " the secret voice of 
conscience inspires the just with a sweet peace in 
the midst of the greatest afflictions, and inflicts 
on the guilty the most cruel torments in the midst 
of the liveliest joy and the most sensible pleas- 
ures." 

In confirmation of this point, Rousseau breaks 
forth into this impassioned and vehement strain of 
eloquence: "How great soever the number of 
the wicked, on earth, there are but few of those ca- 
daverous souls that have become insensible, against 
their interest, to all that is just and good. Do 
we see in the street, or any public place, an act 
of violence and injustice, that moment a sensa- 
tion of anger and indignation is aroused in our 
hearts, and we feel impelled to take the part of 
the oppressed. On the contrary, if any act of 
clemency or generosity strikes our eyes, what 
love and admiration does it not inspire ? It is of 
very little consequence to us, surely, whether a 
man has been good or bad two thousand years 

* Tom. 3. 



292 CHRISTIAN MORALITY. 

ago ; and yet the same interest affects us in read- 
ing ancient history, as if the facts were now 
passing before us. What do I care about the 
crimes of Cataline ? Am I afraid of becoming 
his victim ? Why, then, have I as great a horror 

for him as if he were my contemporary 

u The first duty of men is not to do evil to others : 
the second is to do good. . . No one has ever re- 
pented for having performed a good action. . . . No 
one can be happy who does not enjoy the plea- 
sure of self-esteem. If the true enjoyment of the 
soul consists in the contemplation of the beauti- 
ful, how can the wicked love it in another, with- 
out hating himself. . . . Whoever is more attached 

to life than his duties, cannot be happy 

There is no pleasure without honor and virtue . . . 
Reason often deceives us, conscience never. It is 
the true guide of men, it is to the soul what in- 
stinct is to the body- — conscience is that divine 
instinct, that immortal and celestial voice, that 
certain guide of an ignorant and limited being, 
but a being intelligent and free, that infallible 
judge of good and evil which renders man like 
to God." 

The Marquess D'Argens informs us, that 
" Pythagoras prescribed to his disciples to enter 
into themselves every day, for some moments, 



CHRISTIAN MORALITY. 293 

and ask these questions : How have I employed 
my day ? where have I been ? what persons have 
I associated with ? what good have I done ? what 
errors have I fallen into ? 

Question thy heart ; thy good and evil see ; 
At once thy judge and thy accuser be. 

<c The morality of the Nazareans seems to have 
been dictated by the divine mouth. Good faith, 
candor, forgiveness of enemies, all the virtues 
which the human heart can embrace, are strictly 
enjoined on them : a true Nazarean is a perfect 
philosopher."* 

" Men," writes Voltaire, " are subject to 
cruel passions and horrible misfortunes. They 
must, therefore, have a check to restrain, and a 
truth to console them. . . The great object, and 
great interest, it seems to me, is not to argue meta- 
physically, but to think whether, for the com- 
mon good of us, miserable and reflecting animals, 
we should admit a God, the rewarder and aven- 
ger, who is, at once, a curb and a consolation ; 
or should reject such an idea, and abandon our- 
selves to our calamities, without hope, and to our 
crimes, without remorse. ... If the idea of a 
God, to whom our souls must be re-united, has 
made men virtuous, those examples suffice for 

* Lettres Juives, torn. i. 

25* 



294 CHRISTIAN MORALITY. 

my cause, and my cause is that of all men. . . . 
The worship of a just God who punishes and 
recompenses, is necessary for the welfare of so- 
ciety. Men have always had the hope of a fu- 
ture life ; hope, it is true, often attended by doubt. 
Revelation has destroyed that doubt, and ushered 
certainty into its place If men do not be- 
lieve in hell, what restraint should we have. 
Since the formation of society, how many guilty 
persons have escaped the severity of the laws ? 
Public crimes w T ere punished. A check was 
necessary to prevent secret crimes, religion alone 
could prove that check. The Persians, Chal- 
deans, Egyptians, and Greeks, admitted future 
punishments. Virgil, in the sixth book of the 
JRntid, represents the wretched Theseus con- 
demned to sit forever in pain. 

Sedet aeternumque sedebit 

Infelix Theseus .... 

" The idea of purgatory, as well as of hell, 
is of the highest antiquity ; but is no where so 
clearly expressed as in the same book of Virgil, 
in which the greater part of the mysteries of the 
Gentiles is unfolded : 

Ergo exercentur poenis, veterumque malorum 
Supplicia expendunt. 

Hence are they racked with pains, and expiate 
By suffering, their former evil deeds. 



CHRISTIAN MORALITY. 295 

This idea is sanctified by Christianity; and it is 
consoling to believe, that we may, by prayer, 
obtain favor from God for a departed soul, con- 
demned, in the other life, to temporary punish- 
ments* 

And again : " The moral of the Gospel is so 
pure, so holy, so universal, so clear, so ancient, 
that it could come only from God . . . No moral- 
ist, no philosopher, no legislator, has ever said, 
or could say, what its maxims proclaim. . . . The 
true happiness of man is identified with each one 
of the truths of the Gospel. . . . There is no virtue 
that it does not inspire. . . . Religion, that true 
philosophy, elevates courage, at the same time 
that it makes the heart compassionate. . . . Stoi- 
cism has given us but one Epictetus, Christian 
philosophy has formed a million who were igno- 
rant that they were each an Epictetus ; and whose 
virtue is carried so far, as to make them ignorant 

of their very virtue All the human virtues 

are to be found among the ancients, I grant : the 
divine virtues are to be found only among Chris- 
tians.'^ 

The famous jurist D'Aguessau declares that, 
" Nothing is more worthy our study and venera- 
tion, than the morality which Jesus Christ has 
* Extraits divers. f Tomes 42, 70, 63. 



296 CHRISTIAN MORALITY. 

taught. .... All the truths of natural religion are 
there established and developed in a noble and 
luminous manner : all those that men were igno- 
rant of, or of which they could form a conjecture 
only, but which it was important they should 
know with certainty, are announced and sustained 
by proofs which the human mind cannot resist ; 
and in all those truths there is not one that does 
not accord with the ideas we have of the Supreme 
Being ; of His goodness and His justice. Its 
worship is worthy of God, who is its object. 
Man there learns his origin, his destination, his 
end ; what he owes to his Creator, to himself, to 
his equals. Man in affliction there finds consola- 
tion ; sinful and repentant man, words of life and 
salvation, that reanimate his hopes. Man yearn- 
ing after happiness, finds there wherewith to fill 
up his vast desires; by the object proposed to 
his attention, he finds sage counsels to direct him, 
powerful aids to support him, and, everywhere, 
striking examples to encourage him. 

" This morality of Christ is simple ; the vivid 
and brilliant expression of the pure and sublime 
virtues of his soul. It is holy, dictated by wisdom 
and justice. Universal, proper for all people and 
all climes. Complete, embracing all virtues and 
condemning all vices. Uniform, all its parts are 



CHRISTIAN MORALITY. 297 

fitted together, form a beautiful whole, and afford 
mutual strength. 

" Does not a morality so conformable to the 
nature of man, and, at the same time, so sublime 
and perfect, merit to be stamped with the seal of 
divine revelation, to subject to its sway men, 
whose depravity had reached its acme." 

Finally, I will here subjoin the solemn retrac- 
tation of infidelity, made on his death-bed, by 
Toussaint, a celebrated philosopher, before re- 
ceiving the last sacraments. 

" My son," he earnestly said, "hear and deeply 
lay up in your heart, the last words I now address 
you. I am on the point of appearing before God, 
and rendering an account of my life. I have 
greatly offended Him, and stand much in need of 
His. mercy. To obtain this, it would be neces- 
sary for me merely to repent and have confidence, 
my son; ah ! doubtless that would be enough, so 
infinite is God's bounty, had I to reproach myself 
only with my own weaknesses and faults. But, 
if I have scandalized and injured others, will 
it not be requisite that those individuals should 
intercede, in some sort, for me before God, by 
pardoning me themselves? 

" Well, I calculate still on that act of charity 
on the part of those who have cause to complain 



298 CHRISTIAN MORALITY. 

of me. I have wronged your mother; and her 
piety, which is well known to me, answers that she 
will grant me the pardon I implore. I have been 
guilty of fatal negligence towards your sisters, 
the second head, on account of which I should be 
filled with desperate regrets, did I not consider 
that, at their age, impressions are yet weak, and 
that your mother will repair the evil by the solid 
and Christian character she will give them. You, 
then, my son, are the only subject, in this my dying 
moment, of my terrible inquietude. I have scan- 
dalized you by my conduct, so little congenial with 
a Christian life, and by my maxims so worldly and 
false : will you pardon me ? Will you do what 
you can that God may pardon me ? Will you 
not embrace principles different from those w T hich 
I instilled into your heart ? Unfortunately, you 
are just entering upon an age when there is too 
great an inclination to forget the wisest counsels. 
May I natter myself that you will forget those 
only which it now so deeply pains me to have 
given you. Hearken attentively, my son, to the 
solemn instruction I am giving you, at this critical 
moment. I call God to witness, whom I am 
about receiving, and before whom I must soon 
appear, that if in my conduct, in my conversa- 
tion, and in my writings, I have shown so little of 



CHRISTIAN* MORALITY. 299 

the Christian, it was not from conviction, but from 
human respect, and from the vain wish to please 
certain persons who were implicated with me. 

11 If, then, you have any confidence in your 
father, let that confidence render more respecta- 
ble in your eyes, what I, this day, declare to you. 
May you engrave on your heart, and often recall 
to your memory, the last scene in the life of your 
father. Kneel down, my son, unite your prayers 
with those of the persons who surround me, and 
are looking upon you ; promise God that you will 
profit by my last lessons, and beseech Him to 
pardon me." 




CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. 

As the conclusion of this work, I will add a 
few general remarks concerning those great Doc- 
tors of the Catholic Church, whose names are so 
familiar to all ecclesiastical readers, and whose 
authority is so often quoted by controversial wri- 
ters of all times. 

" The Fathers, 15 writes Fenelon, " are the 
channels of tradition. Through them we discover 
the manner in which the Church interpreted the 
Scriptures in all ages. . . . They are our masters. 
" They were endowed with the highest ge- 
nius, possessed of great souls and heroic senti- 
ments; had a marvellous experience of minds 
and manners : men, in a word, who had acquired 
a great authority, and a great facility of speaking. 
They were also very polished ; that is to say, 
perfectly versed in all the elegancies of writing, 
speaking in public, conversing familiarly, and 
discharging all the functions of civil life. All 
these qualifications rendered them very eloquent, 
and well fitted to gain over men. Thus do we 



THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. 301 

find in their writings, not merely a polish of 
words, but of sentiment and manners, not to be 
found in writers of succeeding ages. 

" This polish, so much in accordance with sim- 
plicity, made them graceful and insinuating, and 
produced great effects for religion." 

La Harpe says, that " the holy fathers belong, 
without doubt, in a particular manner, to the 
Church, but literature claims them likewise, and 
applauds them for the good they have done for 
humanity. Literature loves to array herself in 
the lustre which they have shed through ages: 
and feels herself authorized to say, that while 
they were confessors and martyrs, they were 
great men ; and while they were learned, they 
were also, orators." 

" A Father of the Church," exclaims La Bru- 
yere, " a Doctor of the Church ! what names ! 
1 What gloom in their writings, what dryness,' 
cry out they who have never read them. It is as- 
tonishing how far from the reality is the idea 
such men have formed of them. They have 
shewn in their works, more polish, more wit, 
more richness of expression, more strength of 
reasoning, more lively traits and natural graces, 
than can be found in most of the authors of their 
times, who are read with avidity, and whose 
26 



302 THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. 

names are immortalized. What a pleasure to 
love religion, that has been believed, defended, 
explained, by such noble geniuses, such solid 
minds: especially when we know that for extent 
of arguments, depth, penetration, application, 
developments, exactness of conclusions, dignity 
of language, beauty of moral and sentiment, there 
is nothing, for example, that can compare with 
St. Augustine, but Plato and Cicero."* 

And Chateaubriand : " The eloquence of the 
Fathers of the Church possesses something in- 
spiring, powerful, royal, thus to speak ; whose 
authority confounds and subdues you. We feel 
that their mission comes from above, that they 
teach by the express order of the Almighty. Yet, 
in the midst of their inspirations, calm and ma- 
jesty characterize their genius." 

I will conclude with the tribute of Villemain : 
" What oratorical inspirations have not the Fa- 
thers of the Church found in their mission. Ap- 
proaching nearly the origin of Christianity, they 
seem to have borne upon their heads the fiery 
tongues of the Apostles. I have often past long 
nights in turning over the voluminous collections 
of the doctrine and eloquence of the first ages of 
Christianity : and I seemed to pore over the mem- 

* Esprit fort. 



THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. 303 

ories of the greatest revolution that has ever 
taken place in the world. A profane reader, I 
sought in those theological libraries, the manners 
and genius of nations, the vivid imagination of 
the orators of Christianity, their combats, their 
enthusiasm revived to my view a world that no 
longer exists, and which their language, always 
active and impassioned, seemed to transmit to me 
better than history. The most abstract questions 
were personified by the heat of discussion and 
the truth of language. All appeared fraught with 
interest, because all was fraught with sincerity. 
Great virtues, ardent convictions, characters 
strongly original, animated this picture of an ex- 
traordinary age. 

" They are every where. They resist Gale- 
rius, they reply to Symmachus, they weep over 
Theodosius and Valentinian, they defend Christi- 
anity before nations that oppose it, they call upon 
Genseric to spare the human race ; in the most 
deplorable calamities, in the destruction of the 
empire, they appear in the midst of men, to 
rescue them from despair, they take upon them- 
selves to conscfle the universe The sublimity 

of their Christian eloquence seems to grow and 
live, in proportion as everything else decreases 
and decays. In the midst of the most degrading 



304 THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. 

circumstances, while an empire is governed by 
Eunuchs, or invaded by Barbarians, Athanasius, 
Chrysostom, Ambrose, Augustine proclaim the 
purest morality, in the highest tones of eloquence. 
Their genius only soars far above the decadence 
of the empire ; they stand like its founders amid 
the ruins — and they are, in effect, the architects 
of that great religious fabric which was to suc- 
ceed to the glories of the Roman Empire." 




61 









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